To Shed A Tear for Death
by LadyA.R.R.O
Summary: Ancient gods taking over bodies, Jinchurikis are hunted, Sakura is unwittingly playing with a blond's heart while being raped by the black haired one. She is ready to let her blood splash over her. Full of Angst, Rape, Death, and maybe some hiding Parody.
1. Remembrance

**A/N – Updated - 10-10-2010** (Today isn't an especially special day, but the date seemed appropriate to be able to update chapters and change my incorrect grammar/spellings/ and everything. Thank you for bearing with me on them, please enjoy yourselves!)

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**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto: Shippuden or any of its characters, although I do own this story and any copies or forgeries of this storyline will lead to HUGE rage. Thank you.

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Forethought: This story isn't for the faint of heart. If you don't like RAPE, SEX, and the like. DO NOT READ! Should you feel that you have the stomach to continue, please do so in a mature and orderly fashion!

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**Chapter 1**  
**-Remembrance-**

_"What we remember from our childhood,  
we remember forever.  
They become permanent ghosts,  
stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen...  
Even if we don't want them to be." _

_~Cynthia Ozick_

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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_Being a medic isn't all it's cracked to be. I mean… I love helping people, I love fixing the sick and wounded, and I love the smiles I get when my patients are feeling better, but the amount of death I've seen in the past few years has turned me cold and at times, cruel. Too many hard missions full of dead comrades and fellow brothers in arms, an abundance of betrayels, and a trail of tears so long, I'm sure they could reach Heaven. This isn't the life I dreamed of when I wanted to follow in my parent's footsteps, I'd always assumed everything was rainbows and butterflies, a stark contrast to the reality of things when I finally realized what it meant to be an ANBU Kunoichi. _

_I don't want to see another Shinobi dead, another twisted face, contorted in pain as their last few moments are spent screaming. Yet, I've come to the mind numbing conclusion that along with this life I've chosen as a ninja, and along with my career choice as a doctor, that this is all I'm good at and all I'll be able to do. If I don't do it, no one else will, even Lady Tsunade is shying away from this occupation and immersing herself in her Hokage duties. At times I wonder if she really ever wanted to be a doctor, or maybe she had the same mindset I did when I started, thinking I would be helping people. What I don't think either of us realized in the beginning what being a medic honestly meant, sure we supposed to learn how to heal people, but we needed to know how to kill them too. In my time as the Slug Princess' pupil, I've learned how to kill a ninja in seconds without so much as brandishing a weapon. Poison is an ideal choice to protect one's self from enemies, ranging from toxic gas fumes from a smoke bomb, to a lethal, injectable poison that can shut down a man's system in moments. It's sometimes sickening to wield techniques and power like this._

_The older I get, the more I begin to realize how much this life warps the mind, twisting it in such a way that emotions don't come easily for some, although I would say that Naruto seems to cope quite well being a Shinobi, yet there are moments his life when even he sees the endless slaughter and wonders if it'll ever stop. He is a clouded youth though, just like me, innocently or not always charging ahead and moving on._

_I wish I could see the world as he sees it, full of opportunities and light, but I seem to constantly fall into the darker recesses of my mind and allow the blackness to sink in. Things make more sense when the sake glass is half empty, they're a lot less disappointing too. Here, in this quagmiring pit I've created of my life, no one can hurt me, nothing effects how I function, and no one can betray my trust. I may not be at peace with myself, but I'm safe. The emotions I feel can easily be bottled away without a thought, left to rot on a shelf until I can deal with them later, although the only problem I seem to have come across while I do this, is that the shelf is swiftly running out of room for more bottles._

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"Ms. Haruno?" A young medic touched Sakura's arm and pulled away when she flinched wildly, almost flailing her arm out to hit the would-be intruder upon her thoughts. "I-I don't mean to bother you, but Lady Tsunade wishes to see you." She bowed respectfully to her superior and skirted away without another word, the young medics were always so skittish around the pink haired ice queen, made so by years of hardening one's heart towards the outside world.

The walk to the Hokage's hospital office was long and only made longer by Sakura's intense fatigue, she hadn't slept in days, hadn't eaten in longer, and couldn't remember the last time she'd said a word to her friends. So many things were gnawing at her that she simply forgot how to continue sustaining herself and in the back of her exhausted, starving mind, Sakura hoped her mentor wasn't going to reprimand her for it. It wasn't as if the starvation or sleep deprivation was intentional, but her nights had been spent in the hospital, tending to the sick and wounded, and what little shut eye she did manage to catch was spent amidst the thrall of thrashing nightmares that always seemed to violently jerk her awake.

"Ah, Sakura," Tsunade commented, waving Shizune away like some annoying horsefly, "leave us. I need to speak to Sakura alone." Her assistant didn't pout, although Sakura sensed some annoyance at being sent away, but if Lady Tsunade had something to say, neither was going to argue.

The door clicked behind the young medical-nin and the pinkette flinched again when the sound boomed in her ears, "Lady Tsunade. Good morning."

"And good morning to you," she paused as she signed a few more documents and finally gave her full attention to her charge. She was looking immaculately pristine and modest today, a change from her normal loose fitting kimono top that hung so low her breasts practically popped out. For once her top was securely fitted around her body, hiding her enormous assets, and her hair swept back completely into a ponytail. She looked like she was dressed for a funeral, although no one of importance had died wondered if it was her own the woman was looking good for.

Hokage's breath sharply inhaled and Sakura knew that the older woman had something important to say, even if it wasn't something she may have wanted to hear, "Sakura. I've heard a few things around the hospital. Not good things." She interlaced her fingers and leaned her chin on them as was her normal position when she spoke seriously.

"Some of the other medical-nin have been telling me that you've become… exhausted. Some of them have even claimed your making mistakes on the job now as well."

Sakura's eyes concentrated hard on the floorboards, she wanted to melt into the wall and pretend this conversation wasn't happening. Worst of all, she couldn't deny the accusations, she _had _been messing up and she was _beyond_ tired.

"Do you have anything to say about this?"

The girl shook her head solemnly, feeling more and more like a tiny child every second that passed her by while she remained in this horribly tacky looking office.

"I think I'm going to move you to a field nin medic for a short time. It'll allow you some time to rest between missions, and get you to be around your friends, I've heard from Naruto that you've been very distant and haven't visited lately."

_"Damn you Naruto!"_

"Yes, ma'am. Will I be able to return to the hospital when you feel I've completed my punishment?"

"Sakura," Tsunade's voice was soft, almost motherly, the amount of affection in her voice stabbed her pupil like a hot poker to the soul, "this isn't a punishment. You need to rest, your friends miss you, and you've spent too long in the emergency wing without a break. That much death shouldn't be visited upon anyone-"

"But you handle it, Sensei," Sakura defended.

"I am also… contrary to popular belief… much older than you," she was trying to make a joke, but the exhausted ninja didn't catch the humor and Tsunade cleared her throat. "Well, I will call you and your rather unused team for a mission in the next few days. Please go see Naruto and Sai before you head home today. I know both have been missing you terribly." It was almost humorous to think of Sai actually missing anyone, and if Sakura had had the energy to chuckle, she would have.

That seemed to be it, the conversation just ended and the Hokage snatched up more paperwork. When she noticed a stunned Sakura had yet to move, she looked up from her desk of scrolls and gave the girl an expecting look, "is there something else, Ms. Haruno?"

"No… No, Hokage," she turned around slowly and went for the door, avoiding the flying wood as Shizune came bursting back through, she had the most impeccable timing and in most cases the most irritating.

Sakura slowly made her way down the hall, a strange silence seeming to have overtaken the hospital. All the medical-nin had conveniently disappeared, the patients seemed locked away in their rooms, not even the nursery, just a hallway over, had the sounds of life. It was like everyone was holding their breath as the pink haired nin made her silent, brooding exit.

_"I can't believe it. I can't believe I've been benched from the hospital. How could this have happened? Wasn't I doing a good job? I thought I was Lady Tsunade's best medical nin."_

She sluggishly trudged her way towards the training field, always a good bet for finding the blond ninja and she of course heard him before she saw him. When those eyes caught her, that old half-cocked grin graced his still young features as he bounded towards her. He still had his academy aged crush on her and though the pinkette had never honestly entertained the thought of sharing any type of relationship aside from the teammate and best friend kind, he still held deep feelings for her.

"Sakura! You're here! I mean you're actually standing here in the flesh," he clapped her lightly on the shoulder, grinning like some feral cat that had just caught a mouse, "it's been ages since you've stepped foot in the field. What made you come?"

Green eyes downcast towards the ground as she shook her head and struggled to find something to say, anything but the truth, "I just thought we should do some-"

"Lady Tsunade fired her." A tall, agile shadow leapt from the trees and landed softly nearby and it didn't take a rocket scientist to know that Sai had just intruded.

"I wasn't fired!"

Naruto blinked curiously, looking from Sai to Sakura, "come on guys don't-"

"Ugly, it's okay to admit you're a bad doctor," Sai smiled and didn't see the flying foot to his face until he was thrown across the field. He rolled a few feet before finally coming to a stop, his art supplies were strewn all over like a tornado had ripped through the training ground, and it took all Naruto's strength to prevent his crush from murdering the art ninja.

"_CALL ME UGLY AGAIN, ASSHOLE! I DARE YOU!_" Sakura's face was flushed and her eyes flared fired red behind green irises. Everyone within a mile's radius knew who was screaming and that someone was about to die.

"Now, now kids, that's no way to treat teammates," Kakashi strode in carefree from the outer training gates, his porn book clutched tightly in one hand, and a set of bright blue stress balls in the other. His one showing eye squinted into a smile as he came to Sakura and Naruto's sides, "here, use these to feel better. Lady Tsunade filled me in on the situation." He dropped the squishy, squeak toys into the medical-nin's palm and turned to the fallen ninja, still plastered to the hard, dirt ground, sputtering and coughing up sizeable rocks.

"You shouldn't treat, your teammates like that, Sai, especially if it's Sakura. You're liable to lose a limb, and maybe a limb you're not willing to part with at such a young age." The man smiled underneath his mask, his eye closing slightly into a joking gleam.

"What's that supposed to mean!" The young female ninja screamed, squeezing the stress balls so hard Naruto could almost hear them shrieking out for mercy.

Kakashi grinned to his old pupil and raised his hands up in mocking surrender, there were times when she scared even the new _White Fang of Konoha_. Since his father's passing, it seemed he'd taken on that title from many of the generation that still remembered. "Nothing, Sakura. Only scolding Sai."

The pink haired dragon sighed heavily and rubbed her temples with her free hand, "I'm tired, I'm going to go home." She didn't even give them a chance to retort and turned from the group towards town, night fell fast during the winter times and she didn't want to get caught out in the cold night air.

_"I should've brought a coat." _Sakura shivered in the night air, rubbing her arms over each other for friction. The apartment was just up the road and if she hastened her pace it wouldn't be more than a few moments of chilling air before a nice, soft comforter could be within in reach.

She suddenly felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickle, as the sense of something sinister watching took a taloned grip on her mind.

"Hello?" Her voice was strong, unafraid, enough ANBU ranked missions as an ANBU medical nin had made her used to things that would have scared any normal person.

There was no answer.

Her eyes darted from the well lit street ahead, towards the darkened alleyway to her left, a cold zephyr wind suddenly kicked up dust and swirled it around her ankles.

"_Sakura,"_ a whispery voice came to her ears, familiar, yet so far gone from her mind that she couldn't place it. A shadow darted across the alleyway, slowly taking the form of a human being.

"Who's there?" Sakura took a cautious step toward the figure, her right hand inching towards her weapons pack on her hip.

"_Sakura,"_ the voice repeated in a whispery tone, a pair of golden eyes appeared from the darkness and a white toothed grin came forward. All the rosette nin could think about was how much fear those eyes seemed to instill in her. It froze her in place and she felt helpless to whatever this specter had in store for her.

"_I've come for you,"_ the grin grew wider and then leapt for her, she had only a second to react and threw herself to the pavement.

The shadow remained cloaked in darkness, but a nearby street lamp cast a tiny bit of light onto her attacker's body, and Sakura Haruno gasped, the wind completely taken from her lungs, "Sasuke?"

He cackled in his demonic form and charged her again and everything went dark in Sakura's world…

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**A/N** – Okies, hope you guys had a fun time reading this first chapter. As always, glad you read it, thank you and please REVIEW!


	2. Dreaming

A/N – ((**Updated 1.15.11**))

If you're here, you enjoyed the first chapter, forgive me if some of my chapters aren't long, I am 9 ½ months pregnant, lol and unfortunately I am neither as spry or as motivated for story writing at the moment…((GASPS HEARD ALL AROUND)) I know! I know! But sitting in one position longer than 20 minutes is kinda painful. Sorry, can't help her being such a big baby. I will be going into the hospital on June 10th to be induced and thusly will then have a newborn baby girl. Haha, you should see me try to get sleep and write than, but anyway. You all aren't here to listen to me bitch about my life, you're here to read. Have fun!

P.S. I know there was some grammar and possibly some spelling mistakes in my first chapter, I give no excuses, I have a spell check and a pretty good grammar checker, but sometimes things slip passed me. Thank you to DarkSacredJewelXoX for pointing out that there were some mistakes. I will of course go back and make corrections somewhere around the 5th chapter to ALL 5 chapters, so don't worry!

P.P.S. I have seen Naruto and Naruto Shippuden back to front and **I LOVE IT**! It makes me squeal like a little school girl, but because I have so many philandering thoughts, and yes I said philandering. It cheats on my Naruto stories with Eureka 7 ones and possibly could go as far as to be having thoughts about Inuyasha. I'm going off track, but with all the thoughts swimming around, I may not always keep on perfect pace with the Naruto Shippuden realm, but if I may say, I will be taking some liberties with the storyline for my own personal use and hope you like the changes. I will try to make them minor, such as changing the color of Sasuke's demonic form eyes, supposedly, although the cliff hangers I put in, may not be exactly what you're expecting. Have fun reading.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto Shippuden or Naruto. I don't own any of the characters, but I do own this story and the liberties taken to deviate from the original storyline. Please don't copy this story, you'll make poor little pigmies in New Guinea explode.

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**Chapter 2**  
**-Dreaming-**

_"When we have nightmares...  
Our minds are really just exploring the possibilities  
of what could happen should our dreams fail."_

_Lady A.R.R.O._

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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Sakura's eye bolted open as the thoughts of the night before streamed through her mind. Everything was dark and her body movement restricted, at first she wiggled her arms and tried to free herself, but to no avail. Her breath accelerated as fear trickled through her still hazy brain, and all she could think about was the pair of evil eyes she saw last night in the darkness, that evil smile haunting her now waking moments.

"Hello?" She whispered and struggled against her confines. They gave no quarter and her thrashing only served to tangle her up more, in seconds she was panicking and spun herself over and rolled off whatever surface she was laid upon. The ground was hard and knocked the wind momentarily out of her lungs, but she cannoned herself to her feet in an instant and reached for her weapons pack which conveniently was no longer on her hip.

She glared around everywhere and found herself standing in her own apartment. Her pajamas were tangled around her arms and her blankets had trapped her atop her own bed. There was a few moments of retarded silence where she shook her head and rubbed her eyes with her fingers. Exhaustion was taking its toll on her body and obviously her mind if she was seeing an ex-teammate, "_I can't believe I thought I saw Sasuke. Are you kidding me, he's probably dead for all we know." _For some odd reason though, Sakura hoped she wasn't right. A part of her still mourned the loss of a good friend from the hurt he managed to tear into her all that time ago, even now it ate at her heart and tried to rip her asunder. There was so much she had wanted to say to him, still wanted to say, but after all these long years of waiting and wishing, she'd come to the conclusion that he was never coming home.

Sakura angrily plucked up her quilt from the floor and threw it on her bed lazily, leaving the mattress unmade and sloppy, spinning on heel and charging for the bathroom. She stripped from her nightgown on the way and tossed it haphazardly at the hamper, where it bounced off the edge and rustled lightly to the floor. This wasn't her normal way of doing things, in fact she was annoyingly clean, border-lining obsessive, but today wasn't a typical morning and her brain hadn't woken up enought o care about the article of clothing she had yet to figure out how it got on her body.

The shower was hot, just how she liked it and the bathroom steam fogged up the mirror within seconds. She ran her fingers through her long light rose colored hair, ringing through it with her flower blossom scented shampoo, not forgetting the conditioner. Her tense muscles were slowly relaxing and she let out a soft whimper of satisfaction when they finally felt at ease. Moments of calm like this were rare, managing to seal themselves away during the long missions and the weeks of almost living in the hospital, but when she did find a spare second to relax the results were nearly orgasmic for her.

As the shower ended, she pulled back the almost translucent curtain and reached for a fluffy towel to dry her soaked body. Everything was hot and still steaming, as she crawled from the tub and went to the mirror. She streaked across its foggy polished surface to reveal her exhausted face and she sighed when she noticed the dark bags under her eyes were still there, a grim reminder of how little sleep she was getting.

For some reason, Sai's comment from the day before flashed in her mind, vivid and stinging, dripping with heated venom that resounded off the walls of her skull.

"_Ugly."_

She curled her fingers into a fist and slammed it hard against the bathroom's counter top. She was doing it again, like she had for months after Sasuke first left, telling herself she wasn't good enough, wasn't pretty enough, wasn't anything worth loving. Each poisoned barb stung her brain like a searing poker and finally, unwanted tears sprang to the corners of her eyes. Years of this mental self abuse had super charged through her mind like blue lightning, forcing her to do the grotesque things she did to her body.

Her eyes sluggishly glanced down at her naked arms, tracing lightly the pink and white scars. Some were old and small, the beginning stages of her own self abuse, when the thought of marring her flesh was still fairly sickening to her, but there were other reminders, other scars that fringed on morbidly disgusting, when she had plunged the blade too deep. When the memories of her betrayel had been drowning, filling her with a level of self-loathing Sakura had never before thought possible in a human being, yet she had managed it to such a degree that when she had taken that sparkling kunai tip down her doll-like skin, she cut so deep that it left a forever lasting impression on both her body and her mind. She had effectively broken herself and left the impossibly small shard pieces of her body as the sacrifice for her obsessive insanity.

"I am good enough. I am pretty…" It was all a lying sham she told herself to try to keep out the insatiable need to bleed, she had promised someone she wouldn't let herself continue to drown, had promised to try and let go.

_"No. You're not,"_ her mind was reeling, rolling a film wheel of her life in rapid succession, one hurtful image after another. _"You're pathetic, you're weak. Why couldn't you just kill yourself when you had the chance? I'll tell you why, everything about you is a useless waste of life. You'll never be as strong as Naruto or Sasuke, and in the end… You will die alone…"_

"_STOP IT_!" Sakura bellowed, gripping to her head, burying her nails into her soaked hair and clawing at the surface of her scalp as her own mind continued growing louder and louder. "Stop it, please," she whimpered and felt the hot tears spill over the edge of her lids. _"Just kill yourself and get it over with!"_

She glared at her distorted image in the mirror, the only sounds she could hear was the echoing of her own mind and her soft, quick breathing. Her fists slowly pulled away from her temples and rested on the mirror, as the rage began to boil.

"I mean something. I am strong," she told her own reflection and slammed her fists into the glass, shattering it to pieces. Time seemed to slow as the pieces exploded into the air and floated all around her, when gravity finally kicked in they plummeted to the ground and tinkled across the floor with reckless abandon. She was trapped amidst a field of sharp glass and a closed door.

"Shit," she breathed out, feeling the warm ooze of blood coming from the biting wound on her knuckles. Her eyes searched out a viable escape without too much damage and something flashed in the remaining shards of mirror still stuck in their rightful place. An image prismed out into about twelve other images through the broken shards, each showing a different size, different shape of herself, she realized her image wasn't the only one she saw in the glass. That same feeling from the night before crept up her spine, spidering out across her brain.

Sakura drew closer, placing her hands on the counter and grinding a few missed pieces into the palms of her hands. She gasped and yanked her hands back, plucking the few shards out and licking away the pillowing blood pocket. When her attention went back to the mirror, she saw _him_.

He was grinning at her, evilly dancing behind the glass, taunting her, as if to say, "_come and get me, little Sakura."_ The image lunged for her and she screamed, taking a step back and slipping on the wet floor. She landed hard on her side, feeling thousands of tiny pricks of broken reflector pieces digging into her soft skin.

"_I'm coming for you,"_ the voice hissed in her ear and was gone, taking with him the foreboding feeling of being watched.

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A/N – Chapter 2 is up and done. I've had a few people ask me about Sasuke's eyes and don't worry, nothing too dramatic will be changed, if at all. Review if you find some kind of mistake and remember to not flame, I will be angry if you do. LOL!


	3. Pain and Agony

A/N - ((Updated 1.15.11)) Had the baby! A healthy, happy 10pound baby girl… Now 3 months ago lol. Sorry again for updating so late I've just been working hard keeping the little flesh monster happy and stuff, but here's the new update! Hope you enjoy and don't forget to review!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters, but I do own this storyline so please don't plagiarize or I WILL BRING DOWN THE WRATH!

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**Chapter 3**  
**Pain and Agony**

_"Pleasure of love lasts but a great moment,  
Pain of love extends into eternity."_

_~Anonymous_

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~"GAH!" Sakura bellowed, "Lady Tsunade that fucking hurts!"

~"Well, you shouldn't have broken your damn mirror, now stop your bitching I'm almost done here," the blonde Hokage was gently stitching together the hamburgered flesh of Sakura's side and arm where she'd taken the brunt of her damage. Lady Tsunade noticed a few other old, scraggly scars from ages past and for the most part ignored them, going about her medical work, but she paused as she cleaned the side of her patient's wrist. The older woman knew that Sakura used to cut herself, had even been privy of it in her very presence when Sakura didn't think the Hokage's watchful gaze was on her. There were new ones this time though, deeper, thicker ones and Tsunade bit her tongue against the rising question in her throat. She knew if she asked it would upset her young medical nin, enough maybe to make her do worse to herself, better to swallow the question and keep a better watch over her the next few weeks.

~"There, you're all finished," Lady Tsunade snipped the thread and patted the slightly oozing wound with a clean cloth before letting her old student rise to her feet.

~"Thank you, Hokage," the girl whispered sheepishly, embarrassed for having to come to her teacher to fix her deep wounds. Although, she did chastise the older woman for not using her chakra to heal her, something about learning her lesson and the like. She would have to do it as soon as her own chakra returned.

~The woman shook her head and pointed to the door, "you go thank Naruto. Without him you never would have been found this morning and you never would have made it here."

~Sakura sighed softly, Tsunade was right, the blonde haired monkey had brought her here when he found her unconscious on her bathroom floor, awash in her own blood. There hadn't been questions then when she came to, but without a doubt there would be questions now. People had seen her as Naruto raced to the Hokage with the pink nin clutched tightly in his grasp, running through town like a mad man. He'd nearly run over three people and crushed a traveling noodle shop in the process, and not once did he grumble or seem to care about anything else except delivering Sakura to Tsunade. He was a true friend if she could ever have named one, and without question she knew he would do anything for her.

~Whether or not Naruto's intensity was brought on due to his crush on her, or just because he loved her like his sister, Sakura didn't care. She was grateful for having the older Dobe now to protect her and watch over her, even if she didn't say it enough times to him, she knew he understood her silent appreciation.

~As she left the room, closing the rice paper door behind her, she was bombarded by about eight other ninjas, each talking all in unison and all wanting answers. She knew each of them and set aside her own annoyance to address everyone as best as she could without having to repeat herself.

~"I slipped in my bathroom and accidentally threw a jar at the mirror in the process. When I tried to get up I was cut, when I slipped I made it worse." That answer wasn't exactly what her friends wanted to hear, but most of them went silent and allowed her lie to stand and when she managed to shoo away the gawkers with a fake smile, she paused when she saw Naruto.

~He stood against the wall down the hallway, his arms crossed over his chest, and brow creased in thought. If there had been a word to describe him at that moment, it would have been disturbed, but Sakura knew she had to go talk to him. She stood in front of him, staring into his eyes as he looked down to the floor. He was purposely avoiding her gaze.

~"Thank you, Naruto…." She murmured, knowing he heard even though recognition of the statement never crossed his face. "I said, than-"

~"I heard you," his voice was short and sounded irked.

~" Than why didn't you answer-"

~"Sakura why did you call me Sasuke?" He looked up at me with his hard blue eyes that had always seemed so sweet before.

~The young Kunoichi played dumb and smiled cutely, "what do you mean?"

~He grabbed Sakura's arm and pulled her close, lifting up her shirt and pointing to a wound on her right hip she had yet to have fully looked at. There were two holes, neatly together right next to each other, just like puncture wounds. Around the area was slightly red and the inside of the holes were black as jet, both of them knew what they were… bite marks.

~"Is _He_ back? Did _He _hurt you?"

~She looked away and touched the punctures with her fingers, the wound burned suddenly and the pain shot down her leg like an electric jolt. Tiny pin prickles of red covered her vision in a foggy, tinted haze and she gasped for breath as her mind darkened slightly.

_~"I know you can hear me," __He_ whispered to what felt like the shell of her ear. _"You'll come to me because I say so,"_ there was no room for argument and even if Sakura wanted to, she didn't dare, the finality in _His_ voice was so strong that she didn't dare think of what deadly repercussions would befall Konoha if she didn't listen.

~_"Where am I going?"_ She murmured back within the confines of her mind to _Him_ and there was the familiar sound of _"Hn."_

_~"I don't know what the hell that means, Sasuke! I've never known what that means!"_

~She could feel hands upon her, touching her forehead, throat, and chest. Voices above her somewhere calling out her name in desperation, but she forced them out of her mind to hear her old crush better.

~_"When the moon rises on the night of the Bamboo Festival, you are to slip out of Konoha and travel five days towards the rising sun. You'll find the body of a dead sound ninja, it will be decaying and rotting, and on their person is a scroll. Bring it to me in the Cave of Whispers just south of the Village Hidden in the Mist. Do this or I will kill everyone in Konoha… except you."_

~"_NO_!" Sakura sat up fast and the blood rushed away from her head, making her dizzy. She instantly swayed in her seat and leaned forward to keep from letting lose a barrage of bile that threatening the bottom of her esophagus.

~"Sakura! What's the matter?" Naruto's obvious concern for his teammate overrode Lady Tsunade's ability to keep him back. He ran over the blonde Hokage and scooped up his friend and held her close, hugging her tight, "you were screaming in pain and your whole body turned black. Sakura what the hell happened?"

~The young medical nin looked her arms up and down, but saw only flawless cream colored flesh. There wasn't anything wrong with her, and then she remembered the bite marks. Scrambling like a maniac, she shoved the hem of her black shorts down passed her hip to look at the wound, but it had eerily disappeared. She ran her fingers over the nonexistent mark as if touching it would make it magically reappear.

~"It's gone…" She hissed, and she was right. The mark and the pain was not only gone, but there was no evidence that it had ever been there or that it would ever be there again. She had no idea what kind of jutsu it was that had been used and she didn't think she wanted to know.

~"Huh? What's gone?" Tsunade was confused, but both the pinette and the blonde ninjas knew what had vanished.

~"Nothing, Tsunade," Sakura interjected before Naruto could say a word, "a bruise I thought I saw here."

~The male ninja glared at his teammate intently, this wasn't something to lie about, especially not to the Hokage, but he held his tongue when Sakura's pleading gaze met his. She mouthed the word, _"please,"_ and touched his hand, when she did that she knew Naruto's feelings for her and her safety always took over. He shook his head and helped her to her feet, helping to keep her steady and when he knew she could stand on her own he let her reluctantly go.

~"Lady Tasunade, thank you for your help. It is greatly appreciated, Sensei," she bowed curtly, not something she had done in years, but her mind was a jumbled mess of racing thoughts. Nothing made sense and she just needed to go home to think.

~"Naruto."

~"Yes, Hokage?" The possessed ninja answered softly, watching every shift in Sakura's body. He would be there should she need to help.

~"Take Sakura home. Watch her until I send for you two and Sai for your mission tomorrow. Take her to your house, I don't think she should be alone."

~Sakura's head shot up and she focused her eyes on her medical master, "but, Lady-"

~"Sakura, shut up. You'll do as I tell you because I am the Hokage and your master. I deem you unfit to be alone tonight, so just do as I tell you," in her mahogany brown eyes there were traces of concern, but her job as the protector of Konoha overrode any of her feelings that were struggling to break the surface. She was a wildly intelligent woman and to have things kept from her sent her in spiraling, angry fits.

~The pinkette woman nodded without another word and was mutely pulled down the hallway of the imperial building when they were waved away. She couldn't feel anything inside her, everything was cold as alabaster stone. Never before had her master ever spoken to her to impersonally, as if she wasn't the woman's star pupil, like she had no more value than a mute directly a blind.

~As the two ninjas slowly made their way down the back alleys of Konoha to avoid any unwanted attention, Sakura felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into thought, so deeply that she didn't hear Naruto attempt to start a conversation.

~_"The Bamboo Festival is a month away, so I have a month before I need to leave here. But for how long? What for? What if this is a trick?"_ She countered on herself quickly,_ "Sasuke's not a kidder, he'd never go through the effort of trying to get a hold of me if it wasn't something important. Right?"_

"Sakura! Earth to Sakura," Naruto had stopped in the middle of the street and was holding Sakura's biceps tightly, "is there someone in there?"

~"I'm sorry, Naruto," she breathed out, finally snapping out of her trance. "I'm just…thinking."

~"Really hard, apparently. I asked if you were hungry, I'm starving." How like Naruto to be hungry and thinking about food at a time like this, the possibility of their old, dear friend and teammate was back and edging dangerously at corners of their minds and the damn Dobe was hungry.

~"Noodle Shack?" The young girl asked, knowing he'd say _'yes' _no matter what else going on in his life, and of course he nodded furiously. In an instant he was gone, taking with him a cloud of dust that rose in his racing wake. There wasn't a doubt in Sakura's mind that he'd beat her there and he'd be sitting at the bar table ordering everything he could get his hands on, stuffing his face so full his cheeks would likely closely resemble a hamster.

~She continued on down the quiet, dirt street, listening to the lulling sounds of the crickets chirping, and running water beneath the bridge less than a block ahead. This was the same road on which she had been torn apart by the man she thought she loved more than her own life all those years ago. She could still smell him strongly in her nostrils, feel his strong, muscular body pressed up against her chest, hear his agonizing words as he told her she was weak and annoying. It was breaking her apart even now, with years and space separately them and she still felt as alone and weak and helpless as she had been that night. There were so many sleepless, tear filled nights she had spent screaming into pillow, begging for him to come back. Over time, she felt she'd begun to love him less, felt her crush slowly dissipating, but the horrible feeling of being helpless remained. Even when she took on the rank of Anbu Medical Ninja and the main O.R. doctor at the hospital, both were very honorable and difficult positions to obtain, she still felt helpless against Sasuke's power over her. Naruto had even surpassed her in strength and technique. Of all people, the forever Dobe, the one who took a million tries to finally manage his Ninja Clone Jutsu correctly, had breached forward of her overwhelming knowledge and superior knack for the ways of the ninja, and had left her in the wake of his dust.

~Depression was clinging hold on her mind once again, her breath was coming in short, quick gasps, oxygen eluding her. Her vision was becoming warped, the world turning on end and she realized only milliseconds before she plummeted to the ground that she was falling. Blackness was engulfing her, digging her long taloned claws deep into the farthest recesses of her mind and just before she fell completely unconscious, a voice broke through the darkening haze. Low and soft, _He _whispered into the shell of her ear, _"become stronger and I'll see you."_

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**Author's Note** – So yeah, hehe. Sorry it's been a long time in coming, but have had the ungodly huge case of writer's block, plus with a now 3 month old it's been difficult to handle life and junk all rolled into one. I also do have a book in the process of being published and have had to devote so much time to editing and rewriting it, that my fanfictions have taken a horrible dive in updates. I'm so sorry! Will be having more time now! Promise!


	4. The Mission Before the Storm Pt1

**Author's Note** – ((**Updated: 1.15.11**)) On a roll! Having fun! You know the drill. Luff me hate me, but all in all you can't get your mind off me. Please review.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do NOT own Naruto Shippuden or any of its characters, but I do own this story and though I don't make money off this one, I will fight to protect it. DON'T PLAGERIZE!

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**Chapter 4**  
**The Mission Before the Storm Pt.1**

_"The  
friend who can be silent with us in a moment of  
despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and  
bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is  
a friend who cares."_

_~Henry Nouwen_

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**Sakuras Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~The feeling of something warm clinging to her chest felt too good to pass up and the medical nin turned towards the warmth and clutched to it tightly. She had no idea where she was and at present, she honestly didn't care, the safe sense of security was wrapped about her much like a blanket on a freezing, winter night.

~Her eyes slowly opened and dazingly fought against the bright sunlight beaming down upon her face and she looked towards the warmth. Naruto's shaggy blonde hair came into view and tickled her nose, before she shook the sleep from her groggy eyes and really _saw_ it was her childhood teammate.

~"What the-?" She mouthed and lifted herself onto her elbow, her eyes darting about and taking in where she was. Her friend's room, his bed, which was in fact too small for two people, but they managed to make it work with Naruto's leg thrown over her hip and arms wrapped tightly about her chest. If they were any closer, they could have easily become one person.

~A frigid shot of adrenaline coursed down her spine as she realized she was naked. Well, in her underwear and she wondered in alarmed disarray if she had, had any kind of _intimate_ relations the night before with the blond Dobe, but all she could remember was walking towards the Noodle Shack and then… Darkness. There was no way that Naruto would have taken advantage of her while she was out cold. "_Would he?"_ She asked herself and looked down at his soundly sleeping form.

~Pieces of his hair fell over his eyes and his arms were still tightly clasped around her curvy waist. He, like her was only in his underwear, a pair of gray boxers with adorable little green frogs on them that clung to his muscular frame and it was the first time Sakura actually looked at her friend with eyes unclouded by sisterly affection. She hadn't noticed it before, but Naruto's body was nicely sculpted, lean muscle in all the right spots, not an ounce of fat on him due to his extended training with Master Jiraya and some occasional sessions with their old master Kakashi.

~Sakura reached down and brushed his hair out of his face tenderly and noticed a tiny scar on his forehead, so old now it was hardly noticeable unless one was very close. One from a mission when the whole gang was still together and some sound ninja were hot on their trail and ready to kill, Naruto had stepped in front of kunai for her pathetically weak body and it had bounced off his forehead protector and sliced into the skin. The knuckle head had taken a kunai for her and she hadn't so much as thanked him at all for it, she was too busy fawning over Sasuke's wounds to notice much else and Naruto took his licks in silence, not complaining about them or asking for some patchwork healing, even though he had every right to.

~She couldn't believe she even remembered it, such a wispy memory lost to the sands of time, but there it was and she realized deep down that Naruto had never seen her as a sister, not like she had seen him like a brother. His care and devotion to her wasn't anything short of true, unbridled, dedicated love and she had time and time again spurned it without a second thought, too busy in the depths of her own weary hatred of herself to realize that someone saw her in a different light. He saw her like a woman, like someone worth protecting, and loving, and she had been so overwhelmed with her misery of losing her young crush to notice someone else was dancing at the edge of her sadness.

~With the softest of touches as she could possibly muster, she leaned forward and kissed his cheek. As she pulled away, she was surprised by his gentle blue eyes staring back into her forest green, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

~Naruto's body moved too quickly for her to see and in a moment she was being pressed down against the bed, his lips crushing hers under his. His searching hands found the top of her arms and held her down as she fought against him. When he pulled back to give them some air, he rearranged his knees between her thighs and pressed his hard erection against her soft folds and moved in again for another crushing kiss.

~"Nar-…" Anything Sakura was scraping to say was muffled out by his hard and insistent lips, she didn't know how to react or what to do. This wasn't anything she wanted, but even for a moment though, it felt wonderful to be needed by someone and it didn't matter what the reason was.

~The blond pulled back and moved to her clavicle, nipping it gingerly so as not to hurt her, "I love you, Sakura. Please… Don't move."

~She hadn't noticed it, but the pinkette's hips had been pressing firmly against her captor's sensitive member, drawing shaking spasms from him in tidal waves.

~"I need you," he murmured into her ears, "I want to give you a reason to be alive. Please let me," his hands were ranging over her body, from her arms, down to her stomach, playing softly with the muscles there, and moving back up to her breasts. He carefully squeezed the soft, curvy mounds, leaning forward and licking the peaks through the thin material of her bra and wrapping.

~"Naruto… I don't…" She couldn't help the surging feelings coursing through her body, had no idea what they were, she'd never gotten this far with anyone. She was still a damn virgin, there hadn't been room in her life through all the training and studying for a boy, not for someone to show her love, especially with the depth of her depression and its mangling fangs; love, boys, and sex had been the very last things on her mind.

~Her friend drew back, sensing her apprehension and looked deeply into her jaded, afraid eyes, "I'll be gentle. You need this, Sakura. Let me show you how much I care for you." He kissed her again, yielding to her swiftly bruising lips from the first few kisses. There was a moment of uncertainty where he searched her frightened orbs, and finally she nodded, taking another excited kiss that would leave her lips swollen and sufficiently ravaged.

~Naruto reached for the start of her chest wrapping and carefully removed it, lifting his love off the bed just enough to pull it completely off. All that remained was the thinnest cloth material for her bra and he painstakingly slowly unclipped the back and laid her back down on the bed. Her pink hair fanned out beneath her and inflamed Naruto's need even more, he took a nipple into his mouth and sucked on it lovingly, feeling her buck under him. "Soon, I want you to remember this," he whispered, roaming his free hand over her neck and down her chest, to her untended breast and began to need the supple mound and give it the same attentions he was giving its twin.

~Jolting shocks were tidal waving down her spine in a torrent of emotions she didn't quite comprehend. She didn't know if this was something she wanted, aside from wanting to please the one person who had never left her side, but it seemed wrong to let him do this. This wasn't how one repaid friendship, at least not in her mind.

~He was pulling down her dark red panties and threw them on the floor without a second thought, taking in the sight of her untouched petals closed to him for the moment, he would be the one to change that and that excited him. Kneeling down on the bed, he ran his fingers along the sides of her body, touching all of her curves and finally coming to his prize. He kissed the outer folds delicately, feeling Sakura's body instantly react and he grinned against her woman place. Tongue lashing out, he licked his way inside and tasted of her sweet honey pot, brushing against her bundle of nerves that hide in its tiny cocoon, and Sakura jumped against his administrations.

~"Do you like that," he huskily whispered and saw her nod above him. It didn't matter now if it wasn't the right or wrong thing to do, she was completely hooked and under his power. He sucked on the little nub and was gifted with a few lusty moans that only egged him on further, her voice was so sexy when he was lost in throes of her virginal need.

~His hot, hard rod was struggling to pull free of his boxers and after a few minutes of foreplay, he realized he couldn't take it anymore, the pressure was building so high that he needed to appease his needs as well as hers before he completely lost control. It only took a second for him to strip off the offensive material and come back full force to the panting woman.

~He roamed back up towards her head and kissed her again, grabbing underneath her knees and lifting her hips up just barely off the bed to allow him better access. There was a moment of uncertainty in her eyes as he readied the tip at the start of her folds and he kissed her again to help reassure her, "I'll be gentle, I promise." He sounded so sure of himself, like he'd done this a million times before and in the back of Sakura's mind she wondered who he'd had before her.

~His tip pushed in further, just passed the petals start and she gasped out loud at his size, not that she knew the difference between a large member or a small one. All she knew was his was spreading her open and it was a new feeling she'd never felt before, and then suddenly he stopped. He felt her maiden head, the soft, thin membrane of protection against the male species that could be broken so easily without a second thought.

~"Are you ready, Sakura?" He murmured and she lifted herself up, wrapping her arms around his neck and nodding, "I'm ready-"

~Sai came bursting in through the door suddenly, his jaw dropping to the floor when he found his teammate's positions.

~Both connected ninjas sprang apart immediately, maiden head left intact as Sakura shrieked and screamed for Sai to leave, hiding her naked body with Naruto's thin blanket. It was a completely different story for her murderously angry partner, he leapt from the bed, uncaring as to how he looked and sprang on Sai for his rude intrusion.

~"You couldn't have waited another five minutes!" He bellowed, twisting Sai's wrist behind him and holding the wrist at a disgustingly odd angle until he heard a satisfying crack and watched the black haired menace drop like a rock to the floor.

~Sai coughed and flopped around on the floor like a gutted fish, cradling his out of socket arm, "Tsunade…" He grunted loudly, "it's important!" The pain made him grunt, but he rolled over on the shoulder to spin it back into the joint, the ensuing crack sickened Sakura to her core, even though she had seen worse and she wasn't about to help him either.

~"There's a mission to bring the Kazakage to Konoha," Sai rubbed his aching shoulder, "and I didn't expect to find my teammates consumating, hence why I barged in!" The usually cool and collected emotions seemed tattered and out of place whenever pain took over.

~"Gaara?" Naruto asked, snaking his way into a pair of boxers and pants, he remained shirtless, both seemingly have forgotten their naked female teammate until she cleared her throat.

~"I have to get dressed!" She shouted, "Both of you! _GET OUT_!" When they finally jetted from the room, she sighed angrily, the feeling of needing release was strong, but she pushed it away and thought about the situation at hand.

~She clambered over mounds of things, mostly piles of dirty clothes, but there was a few kunai weapons and throwing stars, which she gingerly tried to avoid to keep her porcelain skin intact.

~When she exited the room, she saw Sai and Naruto in some kind of in depth conversation, both on about the mission and what needed to be done. The blond having finally donned a shirt and the earlier acts between them seemed to have been all but forgotten.

~"We need to go now," Sai said and bolted for the door, both remaining ninjas following in quick time. They went in silence to Lady Tsunade's office and came leaping through the window just as the woman was entering through her door.

~The Hokage shrieked unceremoniously and snarled like a rabid animal, "what's wrong with you three? Can't you use the damn door?" She threw a scroll at them and it bounced harmlessly off Naruto's chest, the lunk head going after it even as Sai snatched it up and handed it back.

~"A thousand apologies, Hokage. We will consider it next time, please give us our mission scroll," Sai chose his words carefully around the Sannin woman, knowing she had little patience for dawdling and they'd spent enough time waiting for Sakura to get dressed that he was sure the women was in some kind of tempestuous sorts.

~"It's simple," she began slowly, "bring the Kazakage of the Sands here. Protect him with your life, he is in grave danger in Suna and we need him alive and kept safe here. I would have you go with more ninjas, but I can only spare you three. Everyone else is either on a mission or has down time, you guys are on your own." She went quiet after that and the team presumed she was through speaking and they went for the window, the boys went first and as Sakura was about to leap out, her master said one more thing, "come back alive."

~Sakura was surprised that Tsunade would care so much about them coming back, that usually meant this was not just any mission. She was honestly afraid for them, "we will, sensei."

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**Author's Note** – Hope you liked that one, haha! I made a few Saku/Naru fans proud, but that isn't this story's match up so it was just back logged filler, hope you enjoyed the taste, but remember this is a Saku/Sasu fanfic and no more Naruto happy time lol! Please review!


	5. The Mission Before the Storm Pt2

Author's Note – And roll more mission!

Disclaimer – I do NOT own Naruto Shippuden!

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**Chapter 5**  
**The Mission Before the Storm Pt.2**

_"Facts  
which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak  
which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple  
beauty."_

_~Galileo Galilei_

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~The first day of the mission was spent racing through the trees in near complete silence except for the occasion complaint from the blonde who hadn't had breakfast before they left, the other two teammates rolled their eyes and continued on without sharing a word. They had another four days before they would even hit the Village in the Sand and at their current set pace they were ahead of schedule. If the scroll was correct, Gaara would be waiting with his bodyguards and siblings; Kankuro and Temari on the edge of the desert. It would cut down on a few days travel and spinning wildly in the mind numbing desert as they struggled to find their way to the hidden city. Though they had gone enough times now to know their way, without a current map of the sands changing dunes, it was a near impossible task even for the best ninja tracker.

~Sai went to gather wood at the close of their first day, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone to poke at the fire, they stared everywhere but at each other, until finally the male couldn't take it anymore. "I'm sorry I wasn't faster, I should've just ignored Sai and kept going-"

~"Naruto," she started, hugging her knees closer to her chest to keep warm, "I don't… I don't know if we should ever try that again."

~His head shot up and he dropped his stick in the fire, "b-but, Sakura! Did I do something wrong? If I-I did I'll fix it!" He leapt to her side and took a firm grip on her arm, "is my technique wrong? Did I do something you didn't like?" His voice lowered to a low whisper, "is my dick too small?"

~Sakura blinked curiously, her eyes wide with confusion, "uh…No, Naruto. Nothing's wrong with you, and you didn't do anything wrong. If Sai hadn't had come in when he did, I wouldn't be a virgin and I'd probably be all over you right now. But I realized something."

~He looked hard into the pinkette's soft emerald colored irises, begging to understand why she was doing this to him, "Sakura. I love you, please don't do this to me. I would do anything for you, give my soul to you if that's want you wanted."

~"It's not that, Naruto. Dammit you're making this harder than it needs to be," she wrapped her arms tighter around the undersides of her knees and buried her face into herself, "it doesn't feel right. If I loved you back or even had feelings of lust, I'd have let them take hold and consume me all ready."

~Naruto pushed on his teammate's forehead with his finger and she looked up at him, "just give me a chance, please." He leaned forward and dug his face into the crook of her neck, softly breathing on her collarbone and taking in her blossom scent. If these were the last moments in his life and the only thing he had was this scent and this image, he knew he could die a happy man.

~Sakura turned away, unable to return his ardent need for her and when he drew away like a beaten dog, she noticed the unfallen tears glittering in his eyes and for a split second she almost debated hugging him to her chest, ignoring what her head was telling her to do. He was her friend, her teammate, the one she went to when she was sad, the man who saved her from falling too deeply into that pit of despair. Didn't he deserve to smile and have something to be happy for? She hadn't been able to smile honestly in years, had spent too many nights crying and bleeding for someone who not only didn't care about her existence, but thought she was less than something to be hated. If Naruto wanted to be the person she called to in the middle of the night while she lay on the floor struggling to die, then she should let him.

~"I'm… I'm going to go find Sai," he jumped to his feet, dusting his ass off and turning towards the thicket of brush just behind him. Sakura wasn't given the chance to tell him to stay with her, to let him know she didn't want to be alone, he was gone before she got that chance and the two boys stayed gone until long after she curled into a ball and fell asleep.

~She dreamed of memories long since passed, the smiling faces, the silly days of training and looking like complete fools even though they didn't know any better. Here was a place of solace for her, away from the realities of a world that hated her and her very existence. She needed to be happy, to watch when times weren't so bad or twisted, before the scars and the bleeding, when all that mattered was making it to the academy on time. Sure, she had young, foolish affections for the dark haired Shinobi in her team, but it didn't borderline obsession and she hadn't the intent need to be near him like she did in her later years.

~Suddenly, the dream began to change. The happy memories melted in front of her like a painted canvas doused in turpentine, the colors running rampant as they were replaced by harsher, more horrific scenes. Blood consumed her vision and there were bodies everywhere, nothing seemed spared by the gore.

~Sakura twitched amidst her dream, looking around wildly in her world and seeing her bloodied wrists streaming and pooling in gigantic puddles of her own life's essence. She was dying, could feel her chakra being drained from her and though she knew this was only a nightmare, it didn't make her any less afraid.

~Red eyes blinked silently within the darkness and the pink haired Kunoichi gasped when Sasuke melded from the shadows to take form in front of her, not more than a few inches from her face.

~"Sasuke," she murmured, and was greeted with a frigidly evil smile.

~"Sakura," his voice still sent chills up her spine and drew inexplicably closer, enough so that she felt his hot breath on her face.

~"What's going on?" This dream world had taken a turn for the worst, her body began to ache and she knew it came from blood loss and the deep gashes in her arms, most likely made by a blade… her own.

~"You're going to carry on the Uchiha line, little blossom," he was still grinning madly, grabbing her arm and dragging her behind him as he took her out of the bloody, dead bodied room. It was dark and silent here, screaming of danger lurking in every nook and cranny, but Sakura had neither the will nor the ability to fight her never forgotten Shinobi obsession. With only a soft word he had planted a seed of control within her mind, the blossoming petals floated like mist and cherry blooms late in the season, drawing a sort of foggy haze over her mind and she followed him without question, her heart singing at his touch.

~He finally came to his resting place and roughly threw her to his bedroll, watching her with those blood red eyes that held her to her place on the hard, stony earth. In a moment he was atop her, shoving her legs apart and blanketing her with his full weight, knowing she couldn't breathe.

~She squeaked and touched her hands to his shoulders, forcing the fog to dissipate as her need for air overrode her need for the dream-like Sasuke. "Please," she begged and struggled against his weight, but to no avail his lithe, muscular bulk was too much for her.

~"Sasuke," she whispered louder, regretting it as more air was pressed from her lungs. "You're…" Her body fought furiously, the lack of air and drained chakra only aid in the quick snuffing of her life, "you're killing me…"

~_"Good."_

~"SAKURA!" A familiar voice was pleading with her, begging to break through her unconsciousness, "wake up! It's not real!" It was Naruto and the tiny bit of pressure on her upper biceps reinforced this knowledge.

"_I can't…"_ Her mind tranquilly felt itself letting go, the wonderful oblivion wanted to swallow her and she wanted to let it. It's soft embrace cradled her gently and offered peace away from the pain of life, all she wanted was for the pain to stop and she was willing to do anything for it, even if it meant her life was forfeit. _"I just want to let go…"_

~"You can't go! I still need you," he was desperately searching for something to do, fighting the inner demons whelling up inside him that threatened to break loose as his love's breathing grew shallower and shallower.

~Sai knelt down beside his teammates, brandishing his paintbrush and drawing a strange symbol on the girl's forehead. "Plenty of room, here," he muttered and formed the jutsu to bring his symbol to life. In an instant he felt his mind growing hazy and he was suddenly falling… falling deeper and deeper into the pinkette's dream, until finally his feet found solid ground and he opened his eyes to a bloodied room full of corpses and the unpleasant odor of rotting flesh. There in the corner her saw what appeared to be a demonically transformed, black haired man, lying atop the quickly suffocating teammate. She had gone ghostly pale and her lips were a drowned bluish tint as her oxygen depraved body sucked it from everywhere else.

~The quiet member of Team Seven snatched up the dream hallow and threw him against the opposite wall, with the collision came the sound of shattering glass and all around them the room of gore and violence was falling away until there was only silence and darkness.

~Sakura lie curled into the fetal position, her face buried into her naked knees as tears streamed down her face, "I can't take it anymore…" She shied away from Sai's outstretched hand and shrieked like he'd burned her skin.

~"DON'T WANT TO LIVE!" She bellowed when he embraced her in a tight hug.

~"Ugly… You don't get to make that decision yet," he formed another jutsu and they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Where am I?" Sakura bolted upright, smashing her head right into Naruto's, they both lie there on the ground for a few hellishly long moments, gushing about the blooming pain in their heads and Sai sat back in bemusement as they rolled around until they could think again.

~"On a mission," Naruto grunted and rubbed his forming cyclops bruise, "getting the Kazakage…" He narrowed his eyes on the medical-nin and grabbed her wrists tightly, "what's wrong with you? You trying to scare me and Sai-"

~"-Not scared," Sai interjected.

~"Me to death? You almost died and what for? A dream you couldn't wake up from? What's the matter with you?" He was boiling furious, the red in his eyes began turning purple with rage, but he caught himself and looked down between them, to their feet. "For Sasuke?" He murmured, "why for him? Why not me?" The words flowed slowly, questioningly out, but not to the woman he loved, more to himself, "would you die for him?"

~Sakura looked away embarrassed, she didn't know how to handle Naruto's unwavering, puppy-like love for her. His knack for following her every footstep was something any girl would beg for in a man, the ardent, public way he expressed his love and yet he wasn't what she wanted. She begged for the abuse a black haired, rouge ninja brought to her tattered and broken soul.

~"I… I don't know…"

~Naruto threw his friend's hands away, jerking into a standing position and turning away from her, the snarl on his lips grew and he needed to be rid of this place… away from Sakura. He leapt into the trees and made only a slight rustle and he ran away, leaving both Sai and the pinkette to sit in the awkward silence that followed.

~"I don't want to-"

~"Save it, Ugly. If you even knew, if you even have the smallest inkling of how much that stupid idiot loved you, you'd forget about your ex teammate and go for Blondy. Least he wouldn't dump your unconscious body on a park bench to go train for revenge." He got up without looking for a word of appreciation for saving her life and left her to rot on the ground next to the dead and cold fire, hearing her break into tears into low sobbing as she realized just how far she was spiraling from obsession into something else, something deeper, far more dangerous than obsession… Addiction…

~No one spoke a word the next day and the two males kept a large, distance ahead of their female counterpart until they reached the edge of the forest that overlooked the wide expanse of the desert's beginning. The desert of death, that sucked dry more soul's corpses than anyone dared try to count, and out there was a thriving village full of well trained ninja whom harbored one of the world's strongest Jinchuriki in all the kingdoms. Kazakage Gaara of the Sands.

~Arriving ahead of schedule, the three ninjas took refuge in one the manmade caves along the cliff edge, facing away from the blowing winds and tearing sands. At first none of the three ninjas wished to speak, it seemed and irrelevant waste of energy and time to them, but Naruto's curiosity from the night before had been piqued and he turned to Sai with questioning eyes, "what was that justsu yesterday?"

~The black haired, art ninja looked up from his blank scroll and black journal to glare at Blondy for disturbing his peace and quiet, but somehow felt obligated to enlighten the stupid ninja as to his lack of talent. "A dream weaving ninjutsu*. I have the ability to either enter someone's dream from the outside world, or input them from paper. It's very difficult and very dangerous." He didn't say any more than that, but Naruto still looked perplexed.

~"Where did you learn it and how's it dangerous?"

~Sai took in a sharp inhale of breath and let it out slowly, he needed to calm his irritated nerve resting directly behind his eyes that moved and twitched whenever someone annoyed him, "I could get stuck in the person's dream world and if I die in their world, I die out here as well. It hard because it expends a tremendous amount of chakra and takes a certain amount of control morons like yourself could never understand."

~The holder of the nine-tailed fox glared hard in Sai's direction, but his teammate merely grinned and went back to his drawing, taking immense pleasure in having gotten under the kid's skin.

~"Thank you," Sakura murmured from the other side of the cave. She had been sitting cross-legged in a shadowed corner for hours, silent as a night sentinel and about as boring. Even though she didn't think she should talk, the urge to be grateful for the help Sai had given her the day before had been a venomous acid that burned her mind and gut something fierce, forcing her to say some sort of appreciation, even if it hadn't been wanted at the time.

~He nodded curtly to her, never forgetting manners no matter how much he detested having to use them.

~"How much longer do you think until Gaara gets here?" Naruto plagued Sai again and the art ninja almost threw a shuriken at his teammate in annoyance.

~"Not…sure," he said through gritted teeth, snarling out both words and pleading with his eyes for the other male of the group to shut his insanely large trap, but there was no quarter for the quieter ninja and Naruto went on about Gaara and their friendship and the red head's abilities.

* * *

~Sakura rose to her feet soon after the sun had sunk beneath the shimmering dunes and approached the cave entrance to look at the vibrant cascade of spilt pain, splashed across the canvas that was the twilight sky. A beauty like this could only be seen here, a proverbial diamond in the rough of worldly wonders that so many either cherished or took no notice of. She was glad she still had enough feeling left inside her to enjoy the panoramic view and exited their cavernous stronghold to trail along the sand at slow trot. Her light weight left little imprint on the sand as she tore through the completely still earth, awing at the glittering moon rising slowly over the horizon and letting lose tiny rays of falling moonlight.

~It had been a very long time since she had seen anything this beautiful and an even longer time since she enjoyed herself like this, there had been a tremendous amount of responsibilities shoved onto her at a very young age, mostly of which was to become an Anbu ninja like her parents. With their passing nearly three years ago now to the day, Sakura had felt herself less inclined to work as hard to impress them, but it didn't help either that the object of her seemingly eternal affection had stonewalled her out as he took off to fight for a cause she didn't fully comprehend. To add to her grief and fury, the nagging, never ending depression that cooped her up in its tight clutches was always with her now, only tiny sad tidbits in the beginning that now came full bloom inside her without any sign of waning. She struggled daily to keep down the raging urges to hurt herself and watch herself in horrific fascination as she bled out all over her bathroom floor, but she was quickly finding out the longer she remained under her depressive spell, that the battle that was waging within her was being won out by her ugly demons and soon they would consume her insides whole.

~"Gaara, you have to hurry!" Temari's loud voice cut through the night air and startled the pinkette's concentration, but she knew she had nothing to fear from the sand siblings and rushed head long across the sand to catch up to their mission's intended target.

~Kankuro was the first one to glimpse sight of the swiftly approaching medical nin, he was quite nearly plowed over when she came racing over a dune and didn't see him until the last moment. In a quick maneuver, she side stepped the puppeteer ninja and spun on heel to avoid him and was thrown into someone else's grasp.

~"Haha!" Temari laughed out, "we found a leaf ninja!" She instantly recognized Sakura's pink locks and hardly worried when the younger girl slammed into her brother.

~"I think she found us," Gaara whispered and helped the pinkette back to her feet. "I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow," his reply came when all he heard was squeaked silence.

~Sakura looked up at the sand ninja, almost afraid his sand demon might come barreling out from his corked gourd. "I'm so sorry," she gushed, pulling away like he'd burned her.

~The red head's hands remained frozen in their outstretched position and his icy blue eyes fought back hurt at her reaction, the past few years since he had become close friends with the whole of Team Seven and had begun to feel closer and closer to the medical nin, but by her reaction he supposed she didn't feel the same.

~Gaara let his hands drop to his sides, "hello, Haruno. I didn't think we would see you until tomorrow. Where is the rest of your team?" His voice had gone from warm and inviting, to cold and put off in only a second's time.

~She stared at him confused momentarily, but swiftly recovered, "I went for a walk, Kazakage Gaara. I wasn't followed by my team."

~Kankuro noticed the immediate temperature change and stepped in to take his introductions into the conversation, "Sakura! How have you been, kiddo?" He wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulder and noogied her hard on the head. She wiggled hard to get away, thinking the puppet master had gone insane, he'd never acted like this, but she didn't seem to mind it too much.

~"Oh," she laughed, finally yanking herself away to smooth out her long, wavy pink hair, "being a medic." Her gloved hands brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and over her ear, catching the Jinchuriki's attention when something glittered off her earlobes. He said nothing, but noted the piercings dotting along the lobe and cartilage, she had changed a lot since he'd last seen her. Her hair was longer than he remembered it ever being, nearly passed her shapely ass, and her body had filled out more maturely although he also took note of her tightly fighting garments, a completely different change to her normal attire in the older days.

~Temari was polite and curt with the younger girl and though there wasn't any tension or unneeded strain between the two girls, it was obvious they were merely acquaintances instead of friends. She asked about the others, commenting on Kiba, Hinata, and Shikimaru and Gaara noticed her change of voice when she mentioned the last name. It had been nearly three years since she'd seen the lazy ninja and though she would never have admitted it, she missed him severely.

~"Yea!" Kankuro bellowed, startling his sister and the medic, "how's the Ino chick? She gotten any hotter?"

~"Could you be any less transparent?" Temari snarled, knowing Kankuro had talked nonstop about how he and Ino had hooked up on their last mission together about four months ago. She was infuriated at how he had been allowed to be sent off to the Leaf Village while she had to stay behind with her depressing younger brother.

~"I could be," he smirked narcissistically and Temari thought to drop it, but her brother didn't see along her line of thinking. "I tapped that sweet ass… all… night-"

~Sand poured from Gaara's gourd and wrapped up the oldest sand sibling and rolled him across the dirt a few feet, "there are women here. Be respectful." He had crossed his arms over his chest in his usual uncaring pose and Shukaku pulled his sand back into hiding.

~Kankuro sputtered wildly, coughing up sand and dirt as the two girls found the whole situation rather amusing, taking joy in the brown haired man's discomfort. He didn't dare yell at his brother, afraid he might get another beating, but he did glare lethally in the boy's direction before flinging himself up and shaking off the excess sand.

~"Sakura," Gaara called and received a toothy smile from his friend, a smile that melted his heart even behind his rock hard visage, "we were on our way to the Moon Fields. Would you join us?"

~"Moon Fields?" She asked and for the first time in her life, she actually saw the fire head genuinely smile.

~"I'd be glad to show you them."

~Sakura was startled when he offered her his hand and led her slowly down a sand dune with his shocked siblings in tow.

~"But there's nothing here," Sakura stated, her eyes spanning the great expanse of desert, darkened by the night sky and lit only slightly by the soft moon rays.

~"There will be, just wait for it."

~Silence ensued for several long minutes as Sakura glanced around slowly, her eyes straining to see and know what Gaara would not tell her, when suddenly she caught a scent. A lightly fragrant, flower aroma wafted to her nose and her head darted to a tall rock just laying in the middle of a sand clearing not more than a few hundred feet away.

~"Wait for it," he whispered, his grip on her hand tightening unconsciously.

~Something poked up from the blue gray ground, pushing up from the earth slowly and forming a mound just beneath the grainy surface. When the head finally broke free of its prison, Sakura began to notice more tiny little speck mounds struggling to surface and break free. Little plants with one tiny bud on their dark emerald green stalks fought to grow in a fast forward photosynthesis she had never witnessed before, they grew towards the moon and soaked up the little beaming rays poking through the midnight clouds.

~When thousands of small plants had sprouted, the moon broke away from the wispy desert clouds blocking her stage and she beamed brightly down only on this one little clearing, the flowers absorbed her love and suddenly sprang into action, their tiny buds blossomed swiftly and opened up their snow white petals, the centers a vibrant red shown vividly through the darkness.

~Flower after flower bloomed in succession, fields of them carpeting the desert floor in their white and red glory until Sakura was sure the very last of them had unfurled their gorgeous petals.

~"Oh my god…" She awed over the scene and knelt down to touch one, the scent strong and wonderful in her nose. "They're beautiful!" She jumped to her feet and hugged Gaara without thinking, catching everyone off guard, even the red head himself, "what are they called?"

~Gaara recovered quickly, his face burning bright red underneath his sand armor skin, but he brushed it off, "bleeding hearts."

~"I've never seen anything like this before," she gushed.

~Kankuro muttered something from behind them, but Temari elbowed him in the gut, taking immense satisfaction when he tumbled to his knees in pain, hoping that she hadn't disturbed the two having their moment.

~"They only grow here and bloom once every five years."

~"Why?" Sakura asked perplexed.

~"The moon has to be in a specific place on our desert for it to happen and that only happens once every five years."

~She beamed at Gaara happily, "thank you for sharing this with me, it was incredible."

~He didn't return the smile, didn't really know how to without looking creepy, or so he had been told, but he knelt over and picked up one of the beautiful blossoms and sheepishly handed it to her. He'd never done anything like this before and his ruby red blush shown through even his sand armor.

~Sakura took the gift willingly, unsure about why her stomach felt like it was floating on air and kissed him softly on the cheek, "I haven't smiled this in a long time, thank you."

~Gaara nodded and began to head in the direction of the desert's entrance, towards the rest of Team Seven and the ending of their mission.

* * *

~Author's Note- Hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was SOOOOOOOO LONG! So I'll expect a lot of reviews! Pretty please, I'm taking time away from writing my novel to doodle in this because I enjoy feedback on my extra bits of work, outside my normal writing job! If you would be interested in listening to my novel, please drop me a line, I'm in desperate need of readers for it. Unfortunately my manager and editor passed away in early August and though I miss her terribly, the show must go on and I would be ecstatic to find people to enjoy my novels heading to the publisher in the next few months. Love you lots all! ~~Angel Omara


	6. The Wishing Festival

**Author's Note~** Thank you for your reviews hehe, it would seem I have a few faithful followers, hope I could gather a few more. Anyway, on with the story…

* * *

**Chapter 6**  
**The Wishing Festival**

_"To be  
a warrior is not a simple matter of wishing to be one. It is rather an  
endless struggle that will go on to the very last moment of our lives. Nobody is  
born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We  
make ourselves into one or the other."_

_-Carlos Castaneda_

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~Lady Tsunade seemed relieved when all of Team Seven came back with the sand siblings and the ruler of the Hidden Sand Village, her relief almost increased tenfold when the report of no attacks was given as well. It seemed strange to the others that anyone would attack the young Kazakage, but Sakura paid it no heed and felt a nice long night at the bar was a good way to end a night. Even with Naruto still angry about the mission, he put aside his feelings for the sake of a huge bowl of ramen, especially when the medical nin promised to pay for it. In an instant it seemed, all of Naruto's earlier confessions of love and resentment for Sakura's inability to return his feelings melted away like the cheese they put on extra special at the ramen shack the blonde loved. Sai never really followed them anywhere, but when times called for a free meal, he never complained and went along with it, silently enjoying the soupy concoction one of the chefs prepared in the back for him as he sketched out the whole bar scene in his journal.

~Sakura downed a few bottles of sake, watching with bemused interest as Naruto slurped down a third and fourth bowl of ramen before she'd even taken a few bites of her first. In any case, she just smiled when he sheepishly asked for another and was overjoyed when she nodded.

~The whole incident on the mission seemed vaguely forgotten until Temari came rumbling in, bringing with her the cold iciness that was her hardened demeanor, behind her tailed Shikimaru looking as bored and as disinterested as ever, except he was insanely focused on one thing as the two entered. Temari's ass. No one would have noticed the behavior unless they were Sakura and trained to observe things most people would not detect. She smiled when Temari gave a curt wave to them and gave a nod back to Shikimaru who had suddenly realized he was in a bar. He looked around confused for a moment and then ordered a sake next to the blonde woman, leaning in close to her ear to whisper something unheard by anyone else. The sand girl giggled cutely, an obvious sign of interest in the black haired boy, playing the role of the innocent, even though no one would have said she looked innocent.

~The medical nin wearily turned back to her friends and sighed heavily, sleep cornered her eyes and the rest of her team noted it, yet said nothing. Finally, when she couldn't take it anymore, she rose to her feet and made her way to the counter, instructing the cook whose name she'd blanked out on, to put the meal on her tab and that she'd be in to pay it the next day and without another word to anyone, she left the bar.

~Some nights in the Hidden Leaf Village were warm and inviting, but not tonight. For some reason a zephyr wind had descended upon the small city and chilled Sakura to the bone, she remembered the night she'd collapsed after the vision of a demonic Sasuke and his golden eyes. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she silently headed towards her apartment, readying herself for anything, but praying for nothing. Even with all her training, all her self-awareness, she couldn't stifle fear, couldn't make it go away. Sometimes it engulfed her, while others times she pushed it aside, but it always remained and it was always hungry.

~"Haruno," a voice called out and the pinkette froze. She turned swiftly, hoping to catch her follower off guard and she saw a flash of blood red hair and dark, sunken eyes.

~"Gaara!" She hissed, "you scared the ever living fuck out of me!"

~His mouth puckered at her word choice, but let it go to engage her in conversation, "I hear your village has a Bamboo Festival, is this true?"

~Sakura took a sharp inhale of breath to calm her nerves and rolled her eyes, "you came out here all alone and without a guard to ask me that? Where's Kankuro?"

~"With my sand double," he barreled through her question without offering an explanation and Sakura knew she probably wouldn't get one without further probing, "is it true?"

~"Yes, it's true. Why do you ask?"

~"I was wondering if you might acquiesce in joining me at this festival?" He seemed genuine about the question and his eyes almost went soft and puppyish as he asked, so much so that Sakura was surprised when she agreed without thinking it through.

~He nodded and said nothing, disappearing into a cloud of sand that dissipated in a minute and left the pinkette standing on a darkened street, completely alone.

~"So much for a leisurely stroll home," she muttered irritated and went on about her business, heading home and soaking herself in a long hot bath.

~The Bamboo Festival was still three weeks off and Sakura remained unsure why the Kazagake had asked for her to join him, he'd never shown any distinct interest in her before and for the longest time she thought he didn't even enjoy her company. She was apparently wrong...

* * *

~Three weeks went by in a flash and nothing else seemed to happen, no more dreams, no more Sasuke, and she'd even begun to feel slightly happier about everything in general. Gaara continued to show a strange interest in her, finding reasons to be in her company, even if it wasn't her day to guard him.

~Both Temari and Kankuro seemed unaware of it, or they ignored the new behavior from their little brother, but in either case it felt nice to not be looked down upon for enjoying someone else's company and not having others interfere with it.

~Sakura was just coming out of the hospital on the night of the festival, feeling slightly down when she was denied yet again to come back to work, but the feeling evaporated when Gaara stood silently at the hospital's entrance waiting for her.

~"Shall we go?" He murmured, arms crossed menacingly over his chest and Sakura raised an eyebrow. Noticing her expression, he peered down at his arms and let them drop quickly and was rewarded with a smile from the pinkette.

~They trailed along down the busy streets, bumping into people as they went, exploring the hundreds of vendors here specifically for the night of the bamboo. It was a busy, almost over powering feeling of being so small in a place so big as Sakura was mobbed sideways by a costumed dragon, shoving his way through the crowd of cheering fans. She felt crowded and leapt up into a nearby tree, followed almost instantly by her walking companion.

~"Lots of people this year," she said and Gaara nodded, "I know there's this one really good stand that sells sweet ice, did you want to try it?" Her eyes flashed hopeful, it was her favorite stand, that one and taking a close second was the little vendor woman who sold tiny trinkets. The young girl always seemed to find some little bauble that caught her eye that she just fell in love with.

~Scrambling from tree to tree as gracefully and as undetected as they could must, both ninjas finally found the Sweet Ice shop. Of course it was crowded, it was one of the more popular stands and every year it seemed to get more and more customers, but Gaara didn't seem to mind the wait, he listened intently to the pink haired girl's memory about the Bleeding Hearts of his desert and reveled in the fact that he'd been the one to show her. He was glad for that, he'd shown someone something they were grateful for and it was someone he was beginning to find some kind of deep, in lain feelings for he didn't know he could possess.

~"What flavor do you want?" Sakura asked happily, pointing to the flavor board sitting to the left of the shop. He glanced at it and inclined his head towards strawberry, one of the newer taste concoctions the girl hadn't yet tried, but she stuck with her tried and true favorite flavor… Lemon.

~The continued on down the street, avoiding bumping into any more people as they went, watching the crowds of costumed dancers and flame eaters and sword throwers, it all seemed to captivate Gaara and intrigue him. There was no such festival in the Sand Village, they had holidays that were remembered in silence, nothing out of joy or fun.

~ Gaara was an interesting person to say the least, at times unnervingly quiet, while others he seemed almost normal. He smiled at Sakura slightly as she told him about where she kept the flower he'd presented to her a few weeks back, revealing it to be drying quite nicely in a closet where she could keep it forever to mark the memory in her mind of the beautiful scene.

~"Why is this festival here?" He asked, having finished his ice and then finding himself picking out of Sakura's to her amusement. She had thought she would be uncomfortable around the abnormally stoic sand ninja, but was happy to be wrong about something for once.

~"It's to be glad for the blooming bamboo flowers. We honor them because bamboo is the way to whistle to the dead, it lets them know we miss them," she smiled sadly, glancing to her feet. Her companion caught the sudden change and cocked his head to the side cutely, "how do you do that?"

~She grinned, happy to be able to show him something in return for the secret he'd given to her, "you whistle." Bounding away swiftly, motioning for him to stay where he was, she found a bamboo stalk and cut away only a few inches from the top, returning with it to her deeply fascinated escort.

~He watched in muted awe as she took her kunai and carved several small holes in the top of the greenery and sliced a diagonal mouth piece from the end. When she finished she put it to her lips and placed her fingers according to how she'd been taught so many years ago by her father and blew gently, the exuding sound echoed soft like a loon.

~"If you listen hard enough, the legend says you can hear them call back," she smiled, "each bamboo whistle makes a different sound, so no one whistle is the same and only your loved ones can hear it."

~Motioning that he wished to try, Sakura shook her head and pushed his hand back, "you have to make your own otherwise it won't work."

~"But I don't know-"

~"I'll show you," she grabbed his hand and spirited him away to the edge of the bamboo forest that lined the Leaf Village's park. "Use your kunai to pluck a piece of bamboo and remember not to take too much, its disrespectful. Yea… Just like that," her voice praised him when he picked a good sized stalk and she pointed to the top where he would make his holes and to the end where the reed end was to be fashioned. The lesson took only a few minutes and by the end Gaara had his own, newly created whistle, not as nice as Sakura's, but she'd had years of practice in the bamboo carving area whereas he had none. She still applauded him on it, claiming it to be a great whistle and showed him how to use it. Moving his fingers into position with her own over his, gently guiding him, she let go and told him to try.

~Gaara took the craft to his lips and blew hard into the end, but no sound came out that resembled the one his companion had made, more like a throaty exuding of breath then a melody.

~"You have to be soft, like the wind that blows through the grass. You know how, when the desert winds fleck sand away from the old relics hiding there. Slowly… Gently…"

~He tried again, this time heeding her advice and when he blew a yielding noise broke free from the whistle's end, more like the cooing a deep throated dove and Gaara seemed upset by his inability to make his sound as pretty as Sakura's. She was about to shake her head and give him praise when the exact same sound came echoing back to them and froze them both in their tracks.

~"What was that?" He questioned and turned to her, but Sakura had tears creeping down her cheeks, much to his dismay.

~"…They answered." She wiped away the crystalline wetness and took his hand and yanked him as fast as she could to the old cherry blossom tree sitting quiet and lonely near the outskirts of town, "quick we have to make a wish!"

~Unsure of what she was talking about, he followed her lead taking the pink ribbon she offered him, tying it in a bow around his whistle and then to the cherry tree's leafy branches.

~"Now make a wish… but don't say it out loud, only in your head." She quickly shut her eyes and clapped her hands together as if to pray, feeling like a little girl again in her excitement. When the wish had been made and sent to the other world, she opened her eyes and found Gaara standing only inches from her face, his teal colored irises glittered in the rising moonlight and seemed more like two abyssal pools of secrets than anything else.

~"Gaara, what-"

~His lips crashed into hard into hers, his searching hands came to her face, clutching her as close as he could possibly get her.

~At first, Sakura struggled, her fists balled up against his chest, but the butterflies that were turning her stomach upside down were beginning to calm and she started to enjoy the roughness Gaara's untrained mouth possessed. Her fingers came up and ran through his thick, red locks, pulling lightly when his searching tongue pushed between her lips without asking for entrance.

~His searching arms surrounded her and lifted her off the ground, spinning them both around and shoving her up against the bark of the old cherry tree. He broke away for only a second and peered deep into her emerald eyes, begging for her to understand, searching for acceptance. "Please," he murmured, soft as a breath against her mouth, "I wished for this. I will always wish for this."

~Sakura was unable to comprehend his meaning, but it didn't matter, she brought his face closer and sealed his lips with a yielding kiss.

~_"When the moon rises on the night of the Bamboo Festival, you are to slip out of Konoha and travel five days towards the rising sun. You'll find the body of a dead sound ninja, he will be decaying and rotting, and on his person is a scroll. Bring it to me in the Cave of Whispers just south of the Village Hidden in the Mist. Do this or I will kill everyone in Konoha… except you."_ His voice… That damn man's voice invaded her thoughts suddenly, overtaking anything else she could have possibly tried to think about.

_~"Go! Go now or I'll kill every last fucking one of them!" _Searing pain shot through her head like a lightening rod and found its way deeper and deeper into her brain, nestling into the tender nerves at the base of her neck. They sent tsunami like shock waves down her spine, leaving her breathless and unable to think.

~She jerked suddenly and yanked herself away from Gaara, feeling his surprise when he pressed his lips to her neck… her tender spot. She shivered unconsciously, but pushed it away, "Gaara, please stop. I can't. I need to go."

~He searched her eyes, hurt rimming the edge of his own and he struggled to find something intelligent to say, although nothing seemed to come to him at all.

~She pushed him back and tried to dart away before the voice sent more pain coursing through her body, but a hand snatched hers and held her there, "what's the matter, Sakura?" She refused to look at him, knowing if she did, he'd see the pain and the fear and she didn't want him to think he'd been the cause of it.

~"Nothing. Let go," she murmured harshly, hoping her tone would make him see she wasn't kidding.

~"Not until you tell me what's-" a fist crashed into his gut, faster than even Shukaku could see and left him gasping for breath. He hadn't been hit like that in years, no one should have been able to get through his defense, let alone the Kyubi's, not unless they were some kind of insanely strong Sannin. His eyes glared up at her as he began to fall, sand trickling from his gourd slowly, in an attempt to save his swiftly fading mind. He saw something he wasn't expecting… regret…

~"I have to do something. When I come back, I hope you can forgive me for what I've done," she helped pick up his dead weight body, sand dripping off both of their bodies as she laid him against the cherry tree. When he looked comfortable enough, she knelt down in front of him and leaned in close to his ear just before the sand encased him completely in a protective shell, "You know what I wished?... That you would kiss me… It came true."

~She disappeared then and left the recovering sand ninja to sleep in his tightly wrapped cocoon until consciousness came back to him and on the swiftest of wings, Sakura Haruno jetted off into the darkness of the Hidden Leaf Village to complete a mission for the missing, traitor ninja…

* * *

~Author's Note ~ Hope you liked it. Now some of you have asked and told me about the color of Sasuke's eyes in the beginning and how they're not "gold" there is a perfectly good reason for it, lol. So be prepared for it in the next chapter! Please review!


	7. Snakes and Liars

Author's Note~ From here on out, we get into the nitty gritty of things. The battle scenes, the rape scenes, the sex scenes, and junk. Hope you all can enjoy it and please, out of respect for the train of thought process it takes to create a fiction, don't pass judgment on the fiction until it is completed. Hehe, (evil laugh) you never know when something might surprise you. Oh, and….Someone's dead in this chapter HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE! **FUCKING BITCH**

* * *

_**Chapter 7**_  
_**Snakes and Liars**_

_"Survival of the fittest is the law of nature.  
We decieve or we are decieved.  
Thus, we flourish or perish.  
Nothing good ever happened to me when I trusted others.  
That is the lesson."_

_~Faye Valentine - Cowboy Bebop_

* * *

**~Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

* * *

~"Where is that damn bitch!" He screamed to his shadowed companion, his temper seemed to spike at the worst times now and without warning. There was something on his mind, something weighing heavy, but none of his comrades dared ask for fear of losing limbs. In the past few months, their fearless leader had been honing and perfecting his incredible skills, to what end except to murder his brother, they weren't sure. What they did know was that he was becoming less and less tolerant of Karin's advances and her constant inability to follow a seemingly simple mission outline. She was two days late in returning with a forbidden scroll from the Village Hidden in the Mist, it seemed stupid that he would have to go out to search for her, but it appeared as if the black haired Shinobi would have to do just that.

~He muttered viciously under his breath as he left the two remaining men of his team behind in their camp, "I will be back."

~There were times when Juugo was the voice of reason, and sometimes when Juugo said nothing there was always Suigetsu's _interesting_ brand of humor to annihilate any chance of getting through to their normally silent, emotionless boss.

~Juugo merely nodded today and said nothing, he had no interest in stopping Sasuke's rampage and hardly thought anything of it when Suigetsu opened his mouth with a toothy grin, "hope the bitch likes it rough."

~Sasuke glared hard at the shark, his dark irises piercing holes through his thick skull, "I hope you can learn to shut up, it would really be a bad day for you if I suddenly decided I no longer cared for your company."

~The water nin darted his gaze back to his grub before Sasuke decided blood was necessary to end his berating humor. He was the first to become part of Taka, but for some reason held a lower standing than even the insane Juugo in his leader's eyes. Every now and again that thought would cross his mind, although once he thought it he let it go, holding onto such thoughts made some ninjas dead.

~"I'm sorry," he muttered and was clapped hard on the back by his dinner companion, as if to say he did good, even though he didn't feel any better.

~Sasuke was gone in a flash, leaving the two men staring down at their bowls of stewed meat and vegetables, a staple it seemed for their team. "You notice how edgy he's been lately?" Suigetsu complained.

~"Yes."

~"Not one for talking tonight, huh?" The silver haired ninja poured his remaining meal back into the pot, leaving it untouched as it had been the night before, in all honestly he was worried about Karin. It felt odd to actually feel some kind of worry over the damn loud mouthed, obnoxious, insanely jealous broad, but Suigetsu couldn't shake this horrible feeling that she wasn't coming back, that she was gone… for good…

~Sasuke portaled ahead a few miles, catching his breath in between each jump, he wanted to conserve strength to pommel the stupid fan girl, her dim-witted antics had gone far enough this time. He'd put up with her fondling, her voice, and her advances and in fits of sheer stupidity and need for release, the nin was irritated to admit he'd used Karin as a tension releaser, but enough was enough. She was wasting his time and everyone knew how precious his time was to him, especially her. She was going to pay dearly for his lateness when he got a hold of her and if something hadn't all ready seriously injured her, he sure would.

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~She stood over a corpse, flies scattered when she drew close, their cloud almost engulfing her. It was filthy and disgusting and if she guessed right the body had been there more than a week, a wonder with the village so close that no one had found it yet. From the looks of the scene before her, the ninja once had red hair, almost the color of Gaara's if not only a little lighter, but with the amount of blood coating the souless flesh sack, she couldn't have been really sure of much.

~_"He wants me to take the scroll from…this thing?..._" She pulled out a handkerchief and held it over her nose, shooing away the buzzing insects with her free hand. The ensuing cloud bubbled up and brought down raining stings upon her uncovered skin and she fought through until she made it to the body. Her nose puckered as the wafting scent filled her nostrils and made her gag, _"where the fuck is it?"_ Everything in her mind was screaming as she dug around in the oozing corpse's pockets and under the dead weight. Nothing. There was no scroll here, absolutely nothing even resembling a scroll, whatever this _thing_ had been holding onto was long since gone, probably by whoever killed it.

~She started to pull away when she noticed a small strip of puffed and rotting flesh still intact even this long after death and there was a tiny cut with a tattoo encircling, almost like a glyph from some kind of ninjutsu spell. Her fingers reached out haltingly and pressed gingerly on the marking and felt something hard underneath.

~"You've got to be kidding me," she murmured and smacked away more buzzing flies as they voiced their anger at having been disturbed from their delicious meal.

~Taking out a kunai, Sakura took a deep breath, choking on the putrid smell of decaying body stench and used both her hands to dig out the hard object just beneath the surface of the fallen foe. A few moments of tugging and pulling and finally the golden canister broke free of its confines, sending her sprawling out on the ground not too far away. When her eyes caught sight of what she'd freed, she gasped and swiftly drew out another knife.

~An eyeball stared at her from its resting place on the ground, a living eye that blinked and peered around as if taking in its surroundings. It was fitted like a jewel, adorning the golden scroll like canister and unnerved the pinkette to say the least.

~Bone and sinew and muscle still clung to the cylindrical container, as if it had just been another part of the ninja's body and now being ripped from its confines, the tissues seemed to rot and melt away in an instant. The sight gagged the female nin, but she held in the rising bile in her throat, this was something she'd never seen before and didn't know how to handle it. All of her inner senses were screaming for her to leave, to get away from this disgusting thing, but Sasuke's words continued echoing in her mind, _"I will kill everyone in Konoha. Everyone… except you."_

~"You have to," she told herself and reached out for the thing, it eyed her eerily, watching her every move and didn't seem the least bit perturbed when Sakura stuffed it into a pouch. As the frightening monster was put away she struggled to put the sight out of her mind, but it clung to her, digging deeper and deeper until she was sure it was in her soul, turning it over and infecting it.

~She inhaled deeply and bounded off into the trees, her hair tie coming undone from her ponytail and letting the rosette colored locks break free of their up done confines. The curls cascaded down her back and shoulders beautifully, almost inhaling the sun's glittering light and making it its own sparkling character.

~Sakura didn't see the shadowed figure watching her from the dense forest edge. She didn't notice even when she stepped on the same branch as him and bounded passed, coming almost within inches of his face. He caught the faint scent of roses as she leapt to the next tree, a black ribbon floated on a soft breeze towards the ground and a wave of memories washed over him.

_~"Don't go!" She was saying, "don't go alone. I'll come with you, I can help." Everything about her was frail and pathetic, the path he was taking was no place for the weak. _

_~"I know I'm not much, but I can become stronger, I promise you I can," she wanted to be with him, the need in her voice was plain to hear, yet he couldn't oblige his teammate, there were things she needed to do here, to accomplish without him. It didn't make him feel any better about the situation, whether he cared to admit it or not, this girl meant something to him. _

_~"No," he said shortly, moving around her to stand at her back. Her hair was still trying to grow out from when she'd cut it some time ago, although he liked it long , for some reason it didn't matter that it was short. He reached out and touched a pink tress, relishing in the soft feel. All he wanted to do was run his fingers through it, feel her against him and enjoying his touch._

_~"I could scream," she threatened, but it was an empty warning, there was no way she'd do it._

_~"You won't."_

_~"Please… Sasuke… I love you…"_

_~He smiled, glad she couldn't see it, "…you're annoying."_

_~She felt tears stinging the back of her eyes, after finally confessing to him her feelings and he'd shot her down, kicking her in the process. Everything within her wept, begging to for the dark nin to see reason, this pathway would likely lead to his death, least of all a lifetime in prison._

_~"I could never love someone who looks like you," he whispered into her ear, hating the words but knowing they needed to be said. She couldn't be allowed to follow him, not this time, he couldn't be saved. This soul had a time limit on it and the clock was quickly running out._

_~Sakura fell to her knees, face in her hands, "how can you be so cruel? What's wrong with you?"_

_~The youngest Uchiha stood tall and cold, a frigid cold that couldn't be melted, "Sakura. I cannot be saved, not me. I am all ready condemned and all I'm doing now is running on borrowed time. So I'll do what I need to do while I'm still breathing."_

_~"Then what! You kill Itachi and what then? Where will you go?"_

_~"I suppose then I'll go find a place to die."_

_~She gasped and looked up at him through a veil of tears, but she was unable to say anything. He just touched her head tenderly and made ready to leave when a hand snatched up his. "I'll come find you," she hissed out, though not unkindly._

_~Sighing heavily, he grabbed the back of her collar and flung her into a standing position, bringing a kunai to her neck and touching the razor sharp blade to her throat to prove he was very serious, "if you come and find me, I __**will**__ kill you." He brought the edge of his fist on the nerve of her neck and her eyes grow wide in shock as consciousness slipped from her grasp. His strong arms caught the falling pinkette, lifting her up before turning towards the bench behind them and setting her down gently._

_~"Don't follow," he whispered into her ear and pulled something from his pocket, a small, satin ribbon the color of obsidian and left it in her hand. _

~Sasuke shook his head of the memories and darted after the medical nin, if she'd come all the way out here after this long, there was a reason for it, especially if she was digging through corpses to find scrolls he was sure no one but the Mist Village and his group knew about. Something was up and he didn't want to reveal himself yet in the plot of things before the proverbial play decided to get good. He bounded silently through the trees, keeping his distance and masking his chakra. There was a moment where he wondered if he should have left Karin's body by that old oak to rot away, but decided against letting Sakura get away, the red head deserved her fate anyway if she could die to this little slip of a ninja with hardly any power to begin with.

~Sakura continued her breakneck pace as she darted from branch to branch, something kept telling her to turn around, the prickling hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she wondered if someone was following her. When she paused long enough to look, she wasn't surprised that there wasn't a soul around, not even the tiniest hint of a chakra signature. For all her worrying and wondering, it only served to irritate her and she at length finally found herself at the Whisper Cave, aptly named for the trickling sound of water coursing through its underground and sounding more like murmuring souls than water.

~"Sasuke?" She called out, perplexing her follower, but he continued wordlessly behind. "Hello?" The whispering sound was soft here at the entrance and the farther in she went the louder it became. Every sense in her body was on fire, looking around for any movement, ready for anything should it come barreling her way. There was no way to see an attack, the cave walls dripped with slime and water from thousands of years of moisture, the darkness continued to descend upon her the deeper in she went, and still that annoying whispering.

~"I brought what you asked for. Should I just-"

~"Bring it here…" The masculine voice hoarsely ordered, startling the medical nin. She glanced around everywhere, fighting to pinpoint the direction of the shadow's physical body, but that damn water murmuring was digging into her brain like a rabid termite. It was driving her crazy, causing some kind of pain to course behind her eyes.

~"Where are you? I can't see you…"

~A spectre appeared on the cave wall a few meters away to Sakura's left and she walked towards it, a hopeful kind of anxiety washed over her suddenly. It had been three years since she'd seen him, three years was a long time to someone who had spent those years abusing herself and hurting her body to make up for her lacking when he left. Her breath accelerated and her fingers shook as she reached for the canister in her pack, the hard, polished surface was smooth to the tips and cool to the touch.

~"Just bring it here, Sakura-chan," the lulling voice called her softly, entrancing her to move even as her mind screamed not to.

~_"Wait… He's never called me, "chan"," _she froze up and hugged the golden tube to her chest, fear crawled up her spine and snuffed out any kind of courage she could have possibly mustered. Inside her, the Anbu skills jumped forward and her incredible senses heightened.

~"Who are you?" Her eyes narrowed viciously, her lip curling into a snarl, the fear still remained inside, a heavy burden to bear, but she pushed it away and let her inner take over.

~"You know me, Sakura. It's me-"

~"Cut the shit, who the fuck are you? Why the hell have you dragged me from Konoha for this stupid piece trash?"

~Laughter echoed off the walls of the cave, drowning out the sounds of the whispering water, "because you're weaker than your comrades," the shadow morphed into the shape of slithering snake and the medical nin gasped.

~"You're dead! We saw your body!" She back flipped onto a stalagmite when a snake-like tail came crashing towards her, rubble tumbled from the ceiling then and created a cloud of ancient dust.

~A pair of golden eyes shown through the darkness and pierced her to her very soul, "sometimes playing dead is the only way to survive. Time to be absorbed!" The monster flung himself forward and was finally seen in the light, Orochimaru had made the first move.

~Sakura forced chakra into her right fist and punched the snake head back, "get away from me, you disgusting piece of slime." Her words were pursed through clenched teeth and a rising growl caught in her throat, low and husky.

~"You think you can defeat me? Even in this weakened state, you're still no match for my power."

~"Let's test this theory of yours," she pulled out a kunai and tanto, moving her feet into a defensive stance, as of yet, in the past three years of training, nothing had gotten passed her defenses.

~Orochimaru chuckled low, amused by her defiance, it would make the fight all the more interesting, but he only wanted to have this done and over with. His energy was fading fast, but he had enough to finish her off and absorb her body to make it his own, he couldn't believe he hadn't tried to use her before, with her standing in Konoha her body would be a good substitute until he found the strength to take over Sasuke's.

~He swung his tail low and fast, aiming for her knees, yet was stopped when the pinkette stabbed her tonto into the ground and let the Sannin hit it. She was taking the head on approach, no fancy tricks to avoid attacks, at least not yet. She took each one in succession, her body oozed defensive chakra and the more Orochimaru hit, the harder her defense became.

~"I've heard about your training with Tsunade," he whispered, charging forward with his head and moving sideways to try to jab her with his tail, but the young woman caught both attacks and swung her blade in a wide arc, forcing him to slither back before her attack hit home.

~She said nothing, concentrating on keeping her chakra levels as hidden as possible, it wasn't time to kill her enemy yet. He didn't need to know what she could do.

~"Oh, come on, Sakura Haruno. Say something, it makes the fight more interesting."

~"Shut up." She dug around in her pouch and yanked out a scroll, flipping it open to do a few jutsu hand motions. Out from the paper poured a herd of inked monsters she had gotten from her teammate. The time she'd spent training to become a better ninja had served her well, her ability to copy others attacks had increased tenfold since she was a child.

~Monsters, large and small charged at the Sannin, but he only smiled and opened his mouth wide, enveloping them and swallowing the attacks whole. He assumed the girl would be surprised by his blatant disregard for her attack, and when his eyes caught her gaze again, he knew he was right.

~Her eyes grew wide as he charged her again, mouth gaping and charka pouring out as he went to consume her body. She had no time to run or move, only stand there as Orochimaru's sharp fangs came down on her body and snapped her in half. Suddenly, her body dissipated into a puff of smoke and all the remained was a wooden stump.

~A confounded Sannin hissed angrily, chomping down on his_ fibrous_ meal and flinging the pieces against the wall, "very nice, little girl. Now come out and just die quietly-" He froze when his tongue sensed her energy and looked up a second too late, the Anbu Medical Nin came flying from the ceiling and jammed her kunai and tonto into the vile snake's head, dragging him to the ground and tossing him into the wall. Brain matter flew in all directions, Orochimaru tossed himself in a fit as he began to die. His mind faded and his eyes searched her out in the hazy darkness engulfing his vision.

~"H-how… did you kill… me?" If he was at full strength, he could have easily taken this blow and put himself back together, even now he could've, but a strange burning sensation was taking over his body and mind, turning his almost inside out.

~"Poison," she murmured shortly, running her gloved hand over the tonto's edge without cutting herself and wiping away the dripping essence before she sheathed her blade. "If I can't win through strength, I'll win through guile." She smiled narcissistically as Orochimaru's existence began to fade, only this time she was sure he'd stay gone.

~The ensuing few moments after her kill were spent in silence , wiping off the blade and trying to figure out where to go from here. She debated returning to the village, but all that seemed to be waiting there for her was a sex crazed Naruto, a probably pissed sand Kazakage, and the requirement of answering questions that she personally didn't really feel like lying about.

~She sheathed her weapons and reached into her pouch to pull out the golden canister, the eyeball didn't seem so frightening now. It almost had an expression of perplexing confusion as he looked around, finally resting its red iris on the pinkette shinobi.

~"What are you?" She whispered and turned it over, there didn't appear to be any way to open it, no lid or seal. Turning it over from end to end, she look at all the trappings and took note of the intricate designs adorning the side in what appeared to be blood… coursing blood, like through veins. Every few seconds, it would slightly constrict, a movement almost too small to see unless someone was really looking.

~It looked at her without much change in its expression, but when she spoke to it, the eye widened. She knew the thing had heard her, but without ears she wasn't sure how it had.

~An evil thought crossed her mind and she smiled dangerously, pulling out her kunai and aiming to poke the pupil. Though, as her blade lingered millimeters from its organ, the optic canister suddenly began to shriek like a banshee and Sakura immediately dropped the case. It rolled across the ground and hit a rock, a second later and the sound was cut off when the eye blinked and found it was no longer in danger.

"Are you kidding me?" She yelled at it, rubbing her almost bleeding ears. The blade was put away to prevent further unbearable noises and she reached out for it again in agitation, feeling the living thing try to shy away, but without appendages to move there was nowhere for it to go.

~"What do you do?" Another question she assumed would go unanswered, but the canister began to wiggle, trying to edge itself closer to her body. That's when she remembered having had to yank this _thing_ out of that body not more than a couple hours ago and whether this was what killed her or not, she wasn't taking her chances and shoved it into her pouch. "Not gonna happen," she muttered and rose to her feet, her eyes looking towards the exit. That's when she froze, eyes struggling to absorb information that her mind was struggling to push away.

~"No… Not you, not right now."

~"Give me the scroll," Sasuke ordered, his eyes red with the Sharingan. He was going to take the container by force if necessary. There were no feelings between them now, not after this long and he needed what was inside the living scroll his old teammate was suddenly clutching.

~"Now, Sakura."

~A sudden rush of rage boiled up inside the medical nin, "fuck you, Sasuke!" She threw a bladed ninja star at disappeared, taking off into the cover of the forest foliage.

* * *

Author's Note ~ Omigawd…. You'd think I could write a frigging fight scene… -.- Sorry dealing with home life drama, thought I could write it out and feel better, but this chapter suffered due to my horrible wanting to murder my ex husband's ex girlfriend, the bitch won't find someone else to stalk… Seriously? I mean really… FIND A LIFE BITCH! Will be working on the next chapter tonight, it might take longer to put up because I write better when I'm hand writing things out, I'll do that this time instead. Review please… Thank you for listening to me bitch…


	8. Bloody Innocence

Author's Note~ I'm in a mood right now, so my writing may reflect it…

****Warning**** this scene a head has rape. This is your only warning.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its affiliates…blah blah blah….

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Chapter 8  
Bloody Innocence

_"Beware how you {snatch} hope from  
another human being... {He may just fight back}"_

_~Oliver Wendel Holmes  
(With liberties)_

* * *

-Sakura Haruno Age: 19-

* * *

~Sakura darted through the trees, feeling the branches licking her cheeks, arms, and legs, leaving behind bloody gashes and stinging red marks, but she hardly cared. _He_ was right on her heels, so close she could feel his hands reaching for her. Thoughts continued to scream through her mind, too many to take a hold of just one and she forced herself forward, launching through another thicket of brush and feeling a thick branch slice her thigh.

~She shrieked and plummeted to the ground, watching Sasuke's blurring, black shadow leap passed her over head with too much momentum, but he corrected his speed and changed course within in seconds, charging for her falling body.

~"Give it to me!" He bellowed, reaching out to grab her collar, but the pinkette pumped a good deal of chakra in her legs and kicked off from a tree, jetting down and away as fast as her legs could carry her.

~They both hit the ground and rolled, not an instant going by before they were back on their feet, glaring at each other with determined malice.

~"Just give it to me, Sakura, and I won't kill you," he was completely serious and she knew that. Too many years had gone by and though she still felt some painful heart twingings for him, he felt nothing for her. His eyes told her that, there was no warmth, no love, no emotion. Both black irises, the color of midnight were void of anything, but anger and hardened resolve.

~"What is it?" She breathed out, still winded from the run. It had taken lots of energy to outrun him and for some reason, she knew he could've gone faster, knew he could've easily over taken her and stolen the living scroll, but he didn't.

~"Give it to me," he repeated, but she persisted.

~"TELL ME WHAT IT IS, SASUKE!" Her voice was shrieking, causing the Uchiha to wince. She still had some lungs on her.

~Sakura reached into her pouch and pulled out the golden canister, the eye darting back and forth between the two Shinobis, it had no idea what was going on and there were traces of concern beaming in its gaze.

~Sasuke inhaled angrily, but calmed his raging temper, "a forbidden scroll. It's from the Village of Mist. Now give it to me."

~"What does it do?" She held the thing only inches from her chest, as if protecting it, although she didn't want it touching any part of her.

~Wind kicked up, ominous and frigid, swirling around Sasuke's feet and shifting through the grass. His rage permeated the air, hot as coal and the medical nin shivered unconsciously. Pure unbridled rage struggling to remain capped, but she was sure too much longer and he would attack.

~"What…does…it…do?" His eyes flashed white hot fury, and he answered, "it allows the user to see into the future." He reached out his hand, "now give it to me, I will _not_ ask you again."

~"For killing Itachi?" The mention of his older brother's name sent a wave of cold down Sasuke's spine and he took a menacing step forward, ready to snatch the scroll away.

~Sakura clutched her prize to her chest, fear rising in her throat and constricting her voice, but she managed to squeak out, "you've been gone for years."

~"Yes." Another step forward, she took one back.

~"We've sent out search parties to find you."

~"I've heard." Again, one step forward and one step back. His strides were larger and he was closing in on her.

~"Men kept coming back dead."

~"I killed them." This time when she stepped back, she hit a tree and he took another foreboding step forward, so close he could almost touch her.

~"Some of us were worried you'd died."

~"Hn." He closed the small gap and was upon her, hands on either side of her face, preventing any kind of escape. His face was so close she could feel his breath on her cheeks, and smell his scent in her nose, it was wild and masculine, making a strange flurry of tingling sensations surge down her spine and to her core.

~He stared down at her, not unkindly, just emotionless. Neither of them moved for a long few moments, staring into each other's eyes, one set of terrified eyes, the other determined and cold.

~"I was worried," she whispered, watching him draw even closer, closing the gap between them, their noses touching.

~"Don't make me kill you," he breathed back, lowering his hands to her shoulders and inching his fingers to the sensitive nerves at the base of her neck.

~Sakura jerked when he put slight pressure on the nerve and pulled the canister tighter to her chest, the cold surface brushed her skin, forcing a gasp to escape her throat, but it was stifled when pain suddenly surged through her body and she let go of the living container. It didn't drop, gravity no longer affected it as it found living flesh to combine with and sunk into her body, just beneath the surface.

~Sasuke made a swift grab for it, but it was too late, the scroll had combined itself with another soul and this one used to be his friend. His hands hung on the surface of her chest, feeling the beating of the scroll beneath, its own heartbeat to match Sakura's.

~She shrieked in agony, falling to the earth at Uchiha's feet, writhing back and forth, her hands gripping to her chest as she clawed at the newly forming body part within her body's confines.

~"Stop!" He yelled, grabbing her hands and pulling them back to keep them from ripping herself open.

~"It hurts!" She cried, tears streaming down her face, "make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!"

~For the second time in his whole life, Sasuke felt helpless to help or do much of anything. He never meant to hurt or kill Sakura, would never do anything more than threaten, but he wanted that scroll, needed it more than anyone could know. It would be the deciding factor between beating his brother and his death.

~Slowly, the pain within her body and mind subsided, the edges of burning agony inched away from her and left her shivering from cold and hallow from the pain. When she finally had enough strength to look up, Sasuke sat poking a newly made fire, watching the hot coals intently.

~"What happened," she coughed out, her voice cracking like she hadn't spoken in years.

~"The scroll absorbed into your body."

~She looked down at her chest, her neck popping from the strain to see the new tattoo that marred her velvet, cream colored flesh. Its black tribal marks stretched out only a few inches and were in the shape of an eye, that for some reason didn't surprise her.

~"You said you were going to kill me."

~"I probably still will." Still no emotion shown in his voice. He poked harder at the fire, hoping Sakura would just shut up.

~The medical nin slowly sat upright and pulled lightly on her fishnet under shirt, it was dirty with soil, probably from when she was lying on the ground. Her pink corset top was untied and hung loosely on her body, barely covering anything and somewhere in her mind she wondered if Sasuke had attempted anything while she was in pain, but her very short black shorts seemed to be perfectly in place and she just decided that the cords holding hers corset together must've come undone in her thrashings.

~"You've changed a lot," he murmured, leaning back against a rock, his white top was undone and pulled off his shoulders to his waist, showing off his muscular tone and lithe body underneath, not that one couldn't have seen it while the shirt was on, this was just more revealing.

~Saukra blushed scarlet when she noticed this and the facial color change didn't go unnoticed by her fire companion, he almost smirked at the power he knew he still possessed over her, for some reason he knew this situation could possibly work into his favor.

~She touched her hair, just noticing it was undone and felt rising panic constrict her throat. Her eyes flickered uncertainly all around her, hand gripping tight to the cascaded waterfall of sultry, curly locks.

~"It's gone," he mused, eyes closed and he pulled his arms across his chest.

~Her face fell, tears brandishing her emerald irises, it was her favorite ribbon. Not only because it was from him, but because it was something he'd given _her_ and she knew he'd never given anyone else anything in his life.

~Sasuke watched her scowling, "it was just a hair band. Get the fuck over it."

~She raised her head and glared at him, rising to her feet, "it wasn't just a hair band. It meant something to me, it was the only thing of yours I had."

~Amusement played behind his dark eyes, but Sakura missed it, "stop being a stupid fan girl. You're not worth it."

~Tears bubbled over her bottom lid and streaked down her cheeks, she couldn't believe he could still be so cold, so horrible to her. "You have no idea what I've done these passed years as I struggled through loving you!" She stalked over to him and pushed up her arm warmers and showed him the scars. Many were just small, thin lines not of too much consequence, but there were several ones that marred her porcelain flesh, long and gnarly, likely having caused weeks of anguish.

~"You're point?" His eyes opened and focused on her, "you're just an obsessed bitch, no better than that Ino whore."

~Sakura had no idea what inside her possessed her to reel her hand back and punch him, but she assumed it was just lapse in clear minded thinking, but by then it was too late and a tsunami huge wave of rage whelled up inside the Uchiha and he bolted to his feet.

~"You want to feel pain?" He screamed at her and grabbed her arm, flipping her around and wrenching her wrist so high on her back he felt her shoulder pop. Her echoing wail was muffled when he brought his hands to her mouth and covered up her sound. He drew close to her ear and whispered into the shell, "you wanna feel _real_ pain?"

~Sakura's tears were freshly renewed and that carved pathways down her face as she struggled on her toes to take pressure off her out of joint shoulder. After he asked his question, she shook her head violently, but it was too late, Sasuke was out for blood, his temper pricked and there was no going back.

~He tossed her to the ground, watching her roll several times before she tried to get to her knees to crawl away. Snarling angrily, he wrested her ankle and yanked her back under him, "too late, cherry blossom. You've unleashed the snake." Before Sakura could cry out, her captor grabbed her head and snapped her neck to his mouth and took to it like a beggar to food, running his teeth along the soft surface and his tongue traveled pathways from her jaw line to her collarbone.

~"Please, Sasuke… Don't!" She felt him sink his fangs into the soft flesh of her right shoulder and cried out when he lapped at the pillowing blood pocket that formed. His eyes flashed between black and red as his blood rage was beginning to take over.

~The medical nin didn't struggle for fear of the pain from her shoulder, but she couldn't do this, didn't want to let him continue. He wouldn't be able to stop if she didn't do something soon. She lashed out with her foot and kneed him in the gut, before aiming for his tender spot.

~Sasuke laughed and pulled her foot up, away from his lower half, "you have no idea how big of a mistake you just made." He leaned forward and licked her trembling cheek, tasting her salty tears.

~"Stop…" she whispered weakly, the pain radiating from her shoulder was becoming too much to bear and the weight of his body on top of her didn't make it any better.

~He didn't hear her plea and took out his Kusanagi and slowly unsheathed the blade, relishing in his prey's quivering body as the ringing of the blade coming from the scabbard rung in their ears. There was a few uncertain moments, where she wondered what he was going to do with it, but his intentions became quite clear when he pushed the blade underneath the cords of hers corset and sliced each thread one by one. When he finished and the corset was lying limply at her sides, completely useless as a defense against him, he reached his fingers through the fishnet and tore it open, revealing her naked breasts underneath.

~She had certainly filled out while he was gone, her breasts were big enough that he couldn't hold all of one in each hand and her toned stomach and arms would have made any guy hot for her. He knew there was no way she was a virgin, she had probably dumped that stigma a long time ago, especially when his blonde ex teammate had this loving obsession for her.

~He leaned forward, wreathing his teeth around her sensitive, hardened areola and sucked gently, feeling her shiver. Smiling against her flesh at the effect he was having on her, he moved to the other breast to give her twin peak the same attention.

~"No… Sasuke. Stop," as much as she wanted this, it was wrong. This wasn't how she wanted it, not what she had envisioned when she dreamed about this scene with him, but he was too far gone to hear her begging.

~His fingers trailed burning scorch marks down Sakura's body, finally finding the edge of her black shorts and toying with the edge carefully, before he grabbed the fabric on her hips and yanked it off. This was the first time he'd seen his old teammate's nether regions, had imagined what they might have looked like years ago when he was needy for female attention, but this was nothing like he thought. The tiny triangle thatch of pinkette curls nestled right at her private area looked too good to pass up. He wasn't new to sex, had used Karin until her insides were screaming for him to stop, had taken other women, even girls and abused their sex until they too begged for him to stop. His insatiable need never seemed to be appeased, no amount of sex seemed to quench it.

~He was going to enjoy this.

~Sakura shrieked when she felt a finger probe her insides, his thumb padding the bundle of very sensitive nerves at her base and even though she fought to stifle it, she involuntarily moaned.

~He smirked evilly and inserted another digit. She clenched around his fingers and started to cry again, "Sasuke, I'm begging you, please stop!"

~"No." His voice finalized and he pulled his fingers out, moving to untie the rope around his pants. With that done, his hardened need rose high and touched her thigh, startling her with its heat.

~"S-Sasuke," she stuttered, "I'm still a-"

~He slapped her, "shut up or I'll make you bleed." He had no idea just how right he was in that statement, he was going to make her bleed.

~She felt him roughly shove her legs apart, taking the undersides of her knees and pulling her closer as he angled himself at her entrance. There didn't seem to be any way out of this, she was sinking lower into the shadows of her mind, hoping that there the pain wouldn't be so bad.

~Something rustled in the bushed behind them and a bird shot off through the trees over head, and for an instant Sasuke was distracted, enough for Sakura to push her remaining chakra into her foot and fling her foot at his head. He blocked the fumbled attack, but it was the seconds that followed that allowed Sakura to roll to her feet and take off onto a tree branch above.

~Gritting her teeth, she muffled a howl as she bumped the trees trunk to force her shoulder back into joint and was about to run when Sasuke appeared behind her and pinned her front to the tree. He pressed his pulsing need into her back and it was right then that Sakura realized she wasn't going to escape.

~Roughly grabbing her hips and using his own foot to spread her own, Sasuke didn't even give her time to cry out before he drilled in his steely manhood into her soft folds.

~Sakura's mouth hung open slackly and her eyes zoned off into the distance as the pain engulfed her whole body. She was pressed against the tree trunk, her only defense against the bark scraping her face as Sasuke began moving was her arms guarding against the rough surface.

~He was slow in the beginning, having only paused for a moment to realize he had been wrong about her previous purity constitution, but it was of no consequence to him and he continued on, pumping inside her over and over again. Her low squeaks made him grin evilly, the cute sounds she made were all consuming and he wanted to hear more, wanted her to scream out and say his name.

~His pace increased as her folds tightened around him, making it harder for him to hold onto himself. He was slowly feeling the rising orgasm struggling to take hold, but he needed her to cry out, wanted her to say his name like all his other conquests.

~"Cry out," he breathed into the shell of her ear, feeling her shake her head and clamp her mouth shut. His fingers circled around her waist and moved to the sensitive nub just above where he was connected with her. She gasped and straightened out her arms, the feelings of pleasure were flowing over her in swells, her back pressed against his front and his free hand wrapped across her chest to grab one of her hanging breasts.

~"Say my name," his voice seductively whispered to her and she made a short gasping sound as more pleasure wound up tight like a coil in her lower gut. It was getting ready to spring, only a few more moments.

~"Say it, Sakura." When he spoke her name, she whined softly, needing him to say it again. She was so close, but remained silent. He withdrew his finger from her clit and removed his hand from her breast, taking with him the feeling of tightness in her gut, the feeling going away, although she didn't want it to.

~"Please, don't… don't stop…"

~"Just one word, Sa-ku-ra," he drew out the note of her name and she shivered.

~"God! Please, Sasuke!" She felt him exhale breath on her neck and suddenly kicked up his pace, his hands tightly clasping her hips.

~"Louder! Say it louder!"

~"Sasuke!" She squealed, the sensation was pouring back into her, coming fast like lightning and for a split second, she wondered if this feeling was going to tear her apart.

~The male nin felt his own release coming soon, feeling her insides clenching in rhythm with each stroking pump he shoved into her. So close, he was so close.

~Sakura exploded first, her mind like a shattering star in space that had just gone nova. Everything was sensitive, everything seemed hushed and quiet around her as she slowly fell back to earth.

~When Sasuke finally felt his orgasm come her felt the same thing his partner had felt, the ultimate pleasure, nothing in life felt as good as this and for some reason it felt better with this nin. No amount of fucking around with Karin had gotten him to the height of pleasure he'd just received. He let go of his pressure and released it out, filling Sakura to the brim with his white hot cum.

~It took them a few moments to collect their thoughts, but it was Sakura who spoke first.

~"What the hell have I been holding out for?" She asked herself and though it should have been an unwitting jab at Sasuke, he just grinned and pulled out, jumping towards the ground and his clothes.

~Sakura fell to her knees, her legs unable to hold her weight anymore without Sasuke's support. She remained in the tree for a long few minutes, debating on what had just happened, but she pushed the thought out and slowly found her way back to the fire light and to her garments. She dug around in her pack for replacements, momentarily angry about her previous vestiges, though there was no way she'd have voiced her words.

~"You will come with me."

~She looked up at Sasuke at length, her mind going over his words carefully, "I can't, I have to return to-"

~"That was _not_ a request. You have what's mine, you will come so I can use you."

~The pinkette thought more on his words, her face falling to her chest, shadows covering it… It wasn't just the scroll he was going to use her for and she knew this…

* * *

~Author's Note – Now I know it wasn't COMPLETELY a rape scene, but really she can only say "no" so many times and hold out so long before it begins to feels good, whether she wants it to or not.


	9. The Fade World

Author's Note – actually I enjoyed myself the last chapter and hope to do so again this one. I am no longer going to warn people when there is a rape scene, a lemon, or what not. I figure because this is a "M" rated fiction that you'd have the presence of mind to not be effected by that kind of stuff. So don't flame me when you were "surprised" by a sudden bout of the sexual kind. Lots of love all! I go with the flow of my stories and in all actuality have no idea what is going to be written before I write it, so chillax peeps, pull up a chair, and read.

Disclaimer: Really? Do I really need to say I don't own Naruto?...

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**Chapter 9**  
**The Fade World**

_"I never paint my dreams or nightmares.  
I only paint my own reality."_

_~Frida Kahlo_

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-Sakura Haruno Age: 19-

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~Sakura hugged her knees close, burying her face into her thighs. Scratches from her run littered her body, one in particular on her upper thigh burned unlike the others, it was where that tree branch had snagged her badly. Although, none of her wounds seemed to hurt as badly as the junction where her legs met with her hips, it seemed to twing every time she shifted position, and the embarrassment of Sasuke's piercing gaze roaming her up and down didn't make things any easier on her.

~"Would you stop," she growled.

~Sasuke put his hands behind his head and cooly grinned, "stop what?"

~"Looking at me like I'm a piece of meat," she couldn't look at him, everything inside her felt like it was on fire. His gaze set her blood pulsing through her temples at a rate that made her dizzy and caused her breath to accelerate, but she struggled to push it aside.

~"That's what you are," he whispered, turning to face away from her to get some shut eye.

~Though his words weren't exactly stinging, they made her heart depressed. She'd spent this long worrying over this asshole and all she was to him was a slab of fuckable meat, and if that's how he was going to treat her on this trip, than he was going to learn real quick just how much training she'd done in his absence. It didn't matter if he was still stronger, in fact it hardly mattered if he was the strongest Shinobi in the whole country, but she would put up a good fight next time around and he would know he'd been in a brawl.

~"You should get some sleep. Tomorrow I won't care if you're not well rested or not, we wake at dawn." Sakura watched the male ninja's back for a long time, silently hating his very presence, wishing she could smack him around for the hell he had put her though, for hurting her, for… raping her.

~"Stop looking at me like I'm some kind of boogey man, I've had my fill of you. Don't worry, I won't be taking you in your sleep, you're not worth my losing rest over-"

~Sakura knew where this one sided conversation was going and she had risen to her feet silently and stalked over to his side, taking quick aim, shoving some chakra into her leg as she reeled it back, and kicked him. "Shut the fuck up, Sasuke! You're a pathetic asshole and I hope your brother fucking kills you!"

~She knew as those words came out that she shouldn't have said them, wishing hard to be able to take them back, because as the black haired nin picked himself up off the ground from where he'd rolled, she knew there was no way of getting out of the beating she was about to receive.

~He went to reach for her collar, but she darted backwards and weaved away from his menacing grip. "I'm going to make you scream, Haruno. You'll regret breathing today," he had no idea how much she all ready did.

~"What like I don't all ready feel like that, you prick!" She punched away his hand, narrowly missing his foot aimed for her head. "Like you could make me feel any fucking lower!"

~"I gave you what you wanted, Sakura," he grinned evilly, "I fucked you like you've always wanted me to. Like you've dreamed about for years. I finally shut the fucking fan girl inside you up."

~Rage boiled over in her mind and the Kunoichi saw red, she held her ground as Sasuke aimed more punches and flailing kicks for vital spots on her body, but she hardly cared. Bruises and scrapes would heal, shattered prides and broken egos had a tendency of staying destroyed. She screamed and grabbed his wrist and threw him over her shoulder, watching him fly into a tree. The ensuing mayhem would have looked like blurs and whizzing images moving through the air, but as the two ninjas battled in tandem, a flurry of kicking legs and punching arms, no one could have possibly guessed that the pinkette was weaker.

~She yanked out a kunai in a flash and brought it over Sasuke's muscled chest when he drew too close, almost laughing when he hissed in pain and leapt backwards away from her. Blood dribbled down his body and stained his white shirt top a coppery red, though he hardly had time to notice before Sakura was on him again, hissing like a wild cat, clawing, kicking, slicing. He hated to admit that when she was angry, her chakra levels seemed to explode to a proportion he wasn't ready for, but he had to end this fight soon or he was going to end up injured worse than he cared to be.

~He made a grab for her weapon, a lightning quick reflex specifically for disarming her and was glad when the weapon dropped from her hands, but in a flash she had her tonto out and sent out a flurry of explosive slices and hits, knocking the Shinobi back to the ground. Her skills had increased to a level he didn't think she could ever reach, it was a wonder that he was able to take advantage of her, though he attributed most of that to her want to please him.

~His hand reached for Kusanagi and drew the blade out as she dove for him again, the lasting ring the weapons made as they clashed together echoed throughout the forest and the whipping wind tore through the treetops.

~"You're going to fight me?" He incredulously asked, "you're too weak to-"

~Sakura punched him over their occupied blades and watched the Shinobi reel back, "you're an idiot, Sasuke. You think I haven't been training? You think I've grown soft?"

~The infuriated Uchiha rubbed his jaw, feeling the growing lump there, whether he wanted to admit it or not she had grown much stronger, she was a formidable force at this point and for some reason he knew she was holding back. "I know you've been practicing, I've been watching you…"

~She paused briefly, both hands on her blade's hilt to his one, his strength was getting the best of her, "what do you mean?"

~"You don't honestly think I haven't cared about how strong Naruto gets? Of course I've been watching, he's a Jinchuriki, his body is so crammed full of chakra he's an unstoppable force, I want to a power like his. Watching you is just an added bonus." He made a deft grab for her collar, but she broke away and flipped back onto the ground, spreading her legs in a defensive stance.

~A sudden eruption of pain made her wince and she realized the deep slash on her thigh had opened up again, she grew angry with herself for not healing it earlier. Her eyes met his as he stood not more than a few yards away from her, his sword hand itching to charge her and make her pay for her callus, flapping tongue, but he restrained himself.

~They were at a stalemated standoff, she was aching from his brutal assault on her body and her senses not more than a few long minutes ago, and he had drained much of his chakra in his earlier pursuit of Karin. Neither one was going to win this fight, it was a useless battle that he hated to admit she would likely win in the end. She was stronger, much stronger than he remembered, no longer the fan girl he knew her to be, but a full-fledged ninja woman with an interesting set of useful skills he found appealing.

~"I hate you," she whispered and he didn't in some small way doubt that she didn't. He hadn't been exactly the easiest person to get along with, relate to, or tolerate, and even less so since he'd left Konoha.

~"Good. I want you to." With that said, he spun on heel, sheathing his sword, and went back to his sleeping roll he'd laid out earlier as he sought out a comfortable position. There would be no more words exchanged tonight with her, no more fighting. She was exhausted from her own traveling and her own inner working demons, he'd enjoyed her body and her reactions earlier, having found himself just as drained with their actions, but now was a time for rest. In the morning there would be none to be found until he'd reached camp and he was sure tomorrow had more in store for both of the nins than today had.

~Sakura put her own weapons away, searching for her missing kunai and that too found its way back into her pouch. If Sasuke felt the fight was over and he hadn't killed her yet, than tonight would be okay until morning, so she assumed.

~Something ran down her inner thigh just underneath her shorts and she rolled her eyes, wondering if she was still bleeding. The thought irritated her and as much as she wanted to follow suit in Sasuke's suggestion of sleep, she didn't dare. Neither of the nins had used protection, something she'd never thought about before, and whether he cared or not, she did and she didn't want to bring a baby into this world just yet, if at all.

~She turned away from the fire and made a hand jutsu with her nimble fingers, a blue spark formed and began leading her to a specific destination. Although she had no idea where she was going, she knew the tiny, blue ember dripping spark did. Searching jutsus always knew where they were going and useful ones like ones for water, as this one was, would search out the closest body of water within a mile's radius.

~Some time later, she had stumbled through a bush, irritated as she remembered the spark felt no inhibitions from physical barriers as she did and was angry to have taken this much extra time in searching for this lake which would have been easier to find had she taken to the treetops. But, as she stared at the cool, silent, almost lagoon-like stream, she let her mind's issues melt away as she kicked off her clothes and dove in.

~Shocking, glacial temperatures made her skin break out in goose flesh, but the cold felt good on her knicks and cuts, letting her forget about the chill. Even though, she had no soap, very few missions were long enough to warrant a cleanup and in most cases a ninja was usually in a hotel for the night, she rubbed over her skin, the grains leaving her flesh pink and raw. She cleaned herself to the best of her abilities, inside and out before she came out of the water to allow herself to drip dry. The air around her wasn't cold, in fact the weather was nice for the end of summer and she was dry in no time, pulling on her clothes at length.

~As she returned to the fire, she noticed it had gone down low with no one to tend it. It was obvious Sasuke was sleeping and wasn't the wiser to her little naked escapade in the nearby lake, there wouldn't be repercussions she thought from this and felt it a good chance stir up the embers and figure out what she was going to do. Sleep wasn't going to come easy for her tonight as she began healing her wounds and she wouldn't bother with it if it didn't want her either. Many a restless nights she had spent in her bed, tossing and turning as the demons in her mind worked their awful magic on her thoughts and feelings, only to wake up at ungodly hours to go train, or to work in the hospital, or even to take exhausting missions. This was nothing new to her and with important things to debate, she didn't want to rest through them.

~She could just leave, with Orochimaru gone now and no one to mess with her head albeit herself, she could have easily slipped away from Sasuke. What was the worst he could do to her, besides drag her back, at least at this rate she could get a head start on him with the chance of making it back to Konoha where her friends and teammates could help protect her.

~A heartbeat within her thumped out of tune with her own heart and she raised her hand to the tattoo. She was marked by a forbidden, living scroll, something she herself in all her studying and learning had never heard of. This was something that likely would be difficult to figure out if anyone even in Konoha knew how to remove it. She didn't feel any different by it, nothing had seemingly changed within her, albeit the disgusting feeling of having some one-eyed scroll sink into her body and make its home there. With how she had to remove it from that earlier corpse, she prayed that wasn't the only way to remove it.

~At least if she went back to Konoha, someone could tell her they didn't know what to do and she could embark on her own to find out the _cure_ for this thing. She made up her mind at length, deciding staying here wasn't exactly something on her agenda, being around some raping Shinobi only aiding in her decision.

~She got to her feet and dusted off her rear end, turning towards her things and putting them away silently. Sure Sasuke was a strong Shinobi, sure he was just as in tune with his surroundings as her, but the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest told her he was fast asleep, there wasn't any way he could stop her anyway, even she just darted now, she'd still have a head start.

~Slinging the small pack over her shoulder, she leapt for a tree branch and tied her long hair up to keep it out of her face. There was absolutely no way for her to have known there was a shadow behind her, one with a masculine frame and strong hands that snatched her arm.

~Sakura gasped as she was spun around, Sasuke's hands clutching tightly to her upper biceps, suddenly a white flash struck her vision and blinded her, everything bathed in light… It was then that she _saw_.

* * *

_~She looked down at her hands and was shocked to see they weren't her own, they had nothing on them, no gloves, nothing. They were just a pair of naked hands. Her sight gazed up, the rimming edges of this shimmering dream-like place glittered every time she blinked or moved, and saw herself standing, back turned and facing a large window. If she was standing there, she had no idea who she was and was surprised when against her will, she started to move forward towards this dream-like Sakura._

_~Her hair was shorter in this place, barely falling passed her shoulders blades now, the angel wing tattoo she had gotten on her sixteenth birthday still shown on her naked back. There was a crumpled robe draped limply on her arms, with a blueish, red colored logo on the back that she couldn't make out, and the person walking towards her took distinct note of the pink and green checkered panties adorning her ass and hips._

_~"You're here," she whispered to the figure drawing closer, but didn't turn around, "I thought you'd be gone longer." The woman slowly twirled around and the inner Sakura, watching behind someone else's eyes, gasped. This dream world pinkette was heavily pregnant, more than eight months, breasts bared for all to see, and her inner self took note that the fizzling reaction that happened to this body she inhabited was similar to the reactions she experienced when she was hot for Sasuke, but it seemed to manifest differently._

_~Those hands reached out again and cradled Sakura's swollen belly, leaning forward and placing their forehead on her shoulder as she reached up and laid a hand on her lover's, a golden ring sparkled on the her third finger of her left hand._

_~"I can feel him kicking," pregnant Sakura whispered, those hands touching her tightened just slightly, almost protectively around her protruding belly. "He's strong, like his father."_

_~Her free hand reached up and ran through inner Sakura's hair, a sparking feeling of bliss coursed throughout her body at this tender motion and black hair fell in front of her eyes._

_~"I love you… Sasuke…" She proclaimed lowly, waiting for him to return the gesture, but when it wasn't she puckered her lips and looked hurt, "I wish you would say it to me, too." This sudden revelation of whose body she was inhabiting suddenly made Sakura gasp out loud._

_~Inside Sasuke's mind, she heard him think, 'I wish I could. I wish I knew how.'_ _He kissed her neck gently, unable to offer more reassurance to her just yet, something within him still held back, afraid that Sakura would leave him like everyone else seemed to. He wanted to say it, needed to, but that fear of being alone made him safe guard his heart, there was no way to know if he'd ever be able to say those words._

_~Suddenly Sakura's belly contorted a little and a tiny foot or hand pushed out against its father's touch and the elated feeling that rose in Sasuke's throat almost choked him. He made a playful grab for it and Sakura giggled, her previous sadness all but disappeared… Then the image began to fall away, melting like ice thrown into a fire._

* * *

~"Sakura!" A voice yelled at her and she darted to a sitting position, coming face to face with the black haired Shinobi of her dream. He looked at her curiously, noted her labored breathing, which confused her, she hadn't been running or moving in the dream.

~"What did you see?" He asked, hands dropping to his sides now that he knew she wouldn't hurt herself in the throes of her vision.

~Her cheeks darkened slightly, "nothing."

~A muscle twitched in his jaw and he asked again, expecting a different answer, "what did you see?"

~"Nothing you'd wanna know about," he couldn't tell if she was being difficult to be a bitch or because she didn't want him to know.

~"I'll be the judge of that."

~Sakura's blush went beet red, "please, don't make me tell you. I just want to keep it to myself."

~"Sakura, we just had sex out in the middle of a forest, I hardly think much else at this point should embarrass you aside from something more public."

~"It wasn't sex! You raped me!" Anger took over embarrassment and she tried to push him away, but he was an immoveable force.

~"If you want, I can give you a reason to be humiliated," he pushed down his shirt off his shoulders and pulled them from the arm holes, leaving his muscular chest and stomach free to gawk at. Most girls would have melted to his will, but Sakura's inner voice screamed at her to shake off his charm.

~"You wouldn't dare," she hissed, a low rumbling escaping her throat when he smirked tepidly.

~"Do you really want to test me? I can go until you can't move, I can't say the say about you. So tell me what you saw."

~"No!" His hands reached for her hips and pulled her closer as he took both her wrists in his one and lifted them over her head, "it looks like I'll have to teach you to listen to me."

~Sakura shrieked when he buried his face into her neck and bit the tender flesh laying there, screaming for him to get off her, but it was all to no avail. She fought furiously, flailing her body, kicking and wiggling, although all it seemed to get her was crushed when he laid his full body weight on her. Her legs were trapped by his stronger ones, both arms held by his one hand, while his free one pulled her neck closer.

~"STOP!" She wailed as another bite racked her body with painful shivers, "I was pregnant!"

~Sasuke froze in his administering and let go of her wrists, "and?"

~Tears sprang to her eyes and she beat her fists against his stony chest, "I was pregnant and you were touching me."

~"Interesting." He let go of the Kunoichi's body, the heaviness of his crushing weight left her gasping for breath and she turned her back to him, twisting in between his legs.

~"Why is it interesting?" She spat at him, disgusted when that hot, rushing sensation coiled around in her gut, settling just above her naval. If there was anything she hated more than Sasuke at this moment, it was her body doing things her mind didn't want them to do.

~"Hibibiju never lies," he saw her confusion, even as she was trying not to look at him, "the scroll's name is Hibibiju. Everything he shows is true and always comes true. One day, you will be pregnant, and I _will_ be 'touching you'. Now go to sleep, you've disturbed me enough for one night." He rose to his feet and unstraddled her, leaving her still shaking form, "and, Sakura…" there was a pause for her to answer, and he _expected_ an answer.

~"Yes?"

~"You wake me again… and I will _rape_ until you don't know what direction is up."

~She felt herself succumbing to tears, unable to stop them even as she told herself to. There wouldn't be escaping him, not for awhile, and Sakura felt the same feelings of needing to bleed as she felt back in the village, but she shoved them away. The one thing she didn't_ need_ right now was being weakened due to blood loss. When the argument with herself calmed to a dull roar, she curled herself into the fetal position and continued to cry, unaware the Sasuke watched from his bedroll.

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Author's Note – Yay me! I made another long chapter! Hopefully you like this one. I know some people don't want me to portrait Sakura as weak, which she isn't, but you also have to remember that she isn't the person she used to be in the series. She took the route of hurting herself for the sake of someone who she didn't think cared for her. Also, I know sometimes they'll be OOC moments, take them in strides, I'm not the owner or the writer of the original Naruto, I don't know what the writer and creator would do in certain situations with any of his characters. I go off of what I know about the characters personal traits, and add a little bit of psychology as to what a person of similar traits and age would do on the things I don't know how they'd react. If you liked the chapter, you know what to do. Review me please, lol! Thank you!


	10. Meeting Insanity Head On

Author's Note – I haven't worked in two days, sickly, bleh! So I've been writing until my fingers hurt because it takes my mind off of being a lazy, sickly, bratty author. Haha, my manager's been ringing me off the hook and bitching, can't even describe to you how much trouble I'm in lol. P.S. If my sexual verbage annoys you, get over it. This is made to be vulgar and arousing, I'm not here to play pedantic with your guy's feelers….

**iWarning! - Mature sexual content a head.**

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Disclaimer: NO, I WISH!

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Chapter 10  
Meeting Insanity Head On

_"All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: **chance**, **nature**,  
**compulsions**, **habit**, **reason**, **passion** and **desire**."_

_~Aristotle_

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19 Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

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~"Wake up," a foot nudged Sakura in the back one too gently and she opened her bleary red eyes, "it's time to go." Sasuke had all ready made the proper preparations for their departure, destroying their fire, removing any evidence they'd been there. It was a typical way to go about mornings as a ninja, especially one on the run.

~Sakura sniffled, feeling cold. The night hadn't been kind to her body, among other things. She rubbed some circulation into her arms and rose to her feet, reaching for her pack and shouldering it. Sleep hadn't come to her until an hour before day break and though she wanted badly to complain, she bit her tongue and followed behind her _captor_ sluggishly, much to his disdain.

~On several occasions as they charged a head wherever they were going, he looked back to make some snide comment about their irritatingly slow pace, which he chalked up to her fault. Though she didn't deny it wasn't, she didn't think it was making her any faster by accusing her about it.

~The day dragged on, the sun violating Sakura's senses, the wind permeating her thin clothing and molesting her attitude. She couldn't even control her foul temper when Sasuke paused long enough for her to catch her breath, one minute they were silent and the next she was throwing kunais, which he easily dodged.

~"How much farther is it," she gasped out, struggling for breath. Her body leaned up against a tree trunk as the Shinobi tested the air.

~"A few more miles, if you had the chakra we'd be there all ready."

~"If you'd let me go, I could be on my way home."

~"Hn."

~"I fucking hate it when you do that," she couldn't hold in the rising cough anymore and gagged as the breath wheezed from her lungs.

~"Hn." With that, he continued on, leaving her clutching to the tree-trunk as if it was the only support keeping her standing. She collapsed at length, if he wanted to keep up this pace, he could do it alone. When she felt enough energy to go, she'd follow… maybe.

~"Get up, Sakura."

~She glared at him through her hair, "no. I'm tired and places hurt that shouldn't be hurting."

~He lifted his eyebrow at her, picking over her words and crossed his arms over his chest. The day before hadn't exactly been her ideal day, he had to give her that one, but she wasn't a weakling, he couldn't understand why playing the weak role today.

~"I'll carry you," he finally said at length, coming to stand beside her and facing away as if to give her a ride on his back. Under most other circumstances, she might've agreed to it, but her pride denied her that luxury, especially when the last thing she wanted was to touch him or be touched.

~"You can wait."

~"Wrong answer," he whipped around and grabbed a handful of her hair, hoisting her to a standing position. "Get on."

~She grit her teeth and gave him a lethal glower through one eye as she shut out the pain, "or what."

~"You just enjoy pushing me, don't you? I don't know how thick your damn skull is, but get this through your head. The _only_ reason you're still alive is because you killed Karin and I fucked Karin. You are her new replacement. When I get that scroll from you, make no mistake, I will throw you away or kill you." He let her hair go and wrapped an arm around her, throwing her ungracefully over his shoulder and taking off.

~She slammed her fists into his back over and over, demanding her put her down, but he pinched the delicate skin of her inner thigh and she froze, "I am not in the mood for your shit, Sakura. I have other things to attend to." This seemed to keep her calm for awhile, and Sakura said nothing, at least she didn't have to chase after him, although his bony shoulder was digging uncomfortably into her gut. She didn't tell him that of course.

* * *

~Base camp was just as he'd left it, neat, clean, and ready to be left. Juugo sat on a stump meditating while Suigetsu paced back and forth like a madman on a mission. When Sasuke came bursting through the foliage, both men looked up at him and was surprised but a supple rump that was obviously not Karin's on their leader's shoulder.

~"Where's the bitch?" Suigetsu was the first to talk and was also the first to receive and angry glare.

~Sakura was forcefully thrown off Sasuke's shoulder and not too gently landed on her ass on the ground. She made no attempt to move for the longest time, falling prey to Suigetsu and Juugo's confused stares.

~"Sasuke, where is-"

~"Dead." His finalizing tone made both Shinobis close their mouths, they knew he didn't feel like talking about it.

~"Are we heading out, sir?" Juugo was always the polite and respectful one, his voice for some reason soothed Sakura's terror. One man, the one called Suigetsu had fangs like a piranha, hair the color of star light, and an evil aura about him that made her shake. The other man, the one's whose hair resembled a lighter tone then pumpkin was insanely tall, but he seemed harmless. Maybe that was ahis deceiving charm.

~"No, you two are going to go to the Mist Village and find me more information on the Living Scroll. She… Absorbed it."

~Both men's attention darted back to their new intruder and they finally noticed the eye tattoo on her chest.

~"Anything, sir?"

~Sasuke nodded, "go. Hurry. If I have to come out to find you two, I will kill you both, you have two days."

~Juugo was the first to move, followed in part by Suigetsu who retrieved his insanely large sword that looked vaguely familiar to Sakura, but she shoved away the thoughts and watched them go, a strange feeling of dread filling her body. She didn't want them to leave, didn't want them to leave her with Sasuke and she grabbed Juugo's hand as he passed her by.

~"Please, let me go with you," she begged.

~"Sakura," Sasuke mumbled disinterestedly, "let go."

~Juugo gently pulled his hand from the pinkette and knelt down next to her, leaning in close to her ear to whisper, "just do what he wants, it'll hurt less. You might even like it, just don't deny him. He'll give you to Suigetsu and that's a fate worse than death." He rose back up and left her there, patting the top of her head tenderly, like some affectionate older brother she'd never had before.. Though it was strange to have someone she didn't know show her this kind of affection, she clung to it and his words, eyeing the gray haired piranha man. He smiled menacingly and she shuddered, there was no way she wanted to be thrown to him, she'd go to Sasuke willingly before that would happen.

* * *

~When the men were gone and their chakras were too far away to hear her scream, Sasuke rose to his feet and walked passed her, beckoning for her to follow with his fingers. She hesitated for only a minute and finally gave pursuit, the last thing she wanted was for him to hurt her, but she seemed to know what was coming and steeled herself against it.

~The sound of water made its way to her ears after a few moments of walking and a hot spring's mist came into view. Sasuke was the first to begin disrobing, first his shirt, his sandals, and then his pants. He stood naked in front of her and happened to glance in her direction, smirking when she blushed red, "hurry up."

~She shivered, hating what she knew was going to come, more pain, another bout of feeling dirty and disgusting. If she had the strength to fight him she would, yet Juugo's words echoed in her mind and she shook wildly, she didn't want to be fish food.

~"Sakura, now." His voice startled her into action and she sheepishly unbuttoned her black mid drift shirt and lifted her bra up, off her body. She wiggled out of her shorts and bit her lip against the rising embarrassment when she was fully naked. Her hands covered her bare breasts, much to her watcher's amusement and he slowly walked into the water, the splashing sounds he made only made the Kunoichi blush harder.

~"Come here," he whispered, his chest poking out of the water as he reached for her hand.

~It took a few moments of coaching, but the Shinobi was patient with his frightened captive, he knew he had to be or she would shy away more so than she all ready was. He needed her to come willingly, the chase was only fun sometimes and in the end he found it better when they came to him instead of crying and screaming. Usually fits like those ended up in him getting bruised somewhere and he wasn't interested in that this morning.

~Sakura didn't take his hand, in fact she brushed it off and stalked passed him without a word. When she made it to the deeper end of the wading hot spring, she dunked herself to her mouth and blew out bubbles when he stared at her with a bemused glance.

~"It won't hurt this time," he assured her, but she didn't seem the least bit convinced and annoyance seeped into mind. Drawing closer, he lightly grabbed her wrist covering a breast and pulled her closer, spinning her around and placing both hands on her shoulders.

~Taking this as if he was going to force himself from behind like he had before, Sakura panicked and flailed out, slipping on the bottom and tumbling into the water. She came up sputtering and gagging on sulfuric water, greeted only by the soft sound of a masculine chuckle. Her body went stiff when he tried again, this time seeming to reassure her with a tender kiss to her neck. He relished in her shiver and felt her tremble underneath his hands that slowly began to massage away some of her aches and pains.

~From his angle behind her, he saw his _love bite_ from yesterday, the skin slightly bruised and a blackening with a few scattered puncture marks marring the flesh. Though he enjoyed being rough, he knew she would be less receptive to him if he was so, wondering why she hadn't healed it like she'd done with her other wounds. He would've thought this one to be the first to go, it reminded her of how painful her _first time_ was.

~He felt her shoulders slacken the more administerings he placed on her, a low sound erupted from her throat, like a moan that she tried to muffle. Pressing her further, he pecked a kiss on her shoulder, moving slowly up her body to her neck and jaw. His staff grew hard in an instant and pressed against the small of her back, causing a squeak to emit from her lips, the need was apparent.

~"I won't say no," she murmured, "but please… please be gentle."

~Sasuke spun her around and traced the line of her full lips with the pad of his thumb, bending forward and kissing her cheeks and jaw line. His fingers came up and tangled in her luscious, long hair, forcing her to his chest. She was unsure at first of what to do, but found he wanted her to return the favors he'd bestowed on her, until than he refused to let her head go.

~She lightly kissed the taut chest mechanically, uncertain of her next move and moved to his neck and face, going in to kiss his lips. He turned his head away, grabbing her chin and forcing her to his neck, the scent of him filled her nose and intoxicated her. The closeness of him was slowly getting into her veins and his touch sent spiraling emotions coursing to her core. She couldn't understand why he could be so gentle, yet so rough and she seemed to enjoy it, even if she didn't want to.

~Taking both breasts into his hands he began to massage the hardening nipples, flicking them gently until her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She was starting to relax against him, her body limply hanging onto the last vestiges of her iron clad morality which he knew would snap soon.

~He leaned forward and took a nipple between his lips, his tongue lashing at it cruelly and squeezing its twin. She twitched against him during all of this, but had stopped making sounds, drawing a curious look from the Shinobi. Her face was turned away, eyes staring hard at the edge of the bank, she couldn't look at him, didn't want to while he did these things to her. In her mind she knew he would take from her what he wanted, touch her, rape her, even hurt her, but what he wasn't going to take was her willpower to resist him. He could try all he wanted, though nothing was going to make her mind agree to this.

~"Look at me, Sakura."

~She shut her eyes and shook her head, feeling him pinch the delicate skin on her breasts.

~"I want you to look at me while I do this to you."

~"No. You can rape me all you want but I'm not going to watch you do it."

~A smile broke out on Sasuke's lips then, he touched the bandages on his biceps and pulled them off, revealing contract summoning tattoos there and just by the looks of them Sakura knew they were snakes. She yanked herself away when his two summons poured from the tattoos, slithering towards her menacingly. They didn't look especially dangerous, but the pinkette assumed that was part of their lethal charm.

~One white snake and one black coiled down her captor's arms and closed the gapping distance between them, wrapping around her frozen arms and pulling her closer. The tips of her breasts touched Sasuke's hard chest, forcing a terrified squeak to rip from between her lips, this was beginning to become too much.

~"When I tell you to do something, I expect you to listen." He let the snakes loop around her body, around her neck and arms, constricting her movement until she couldn't shove Sasuke's attentions off.

~He spun her around and nuzzled her neck, feeling her hands tied behind her and brushing lightly against his rock hard dick. The light touch shocked his senses and he moaned into her flesh, the tingling sensations spiraled through his body like molten fire, the knowledge of not being able to hold on much longer tickled the back of his mind.

~Tears sprang into Sakura's jade colored pools, she didn't want this, not again, but he was forcing her and causing a reaction. It frustrated her to no end to know her body was pulsing and aching in tune with his needs and wants and there wasn't anything she could do about it. If she fought, she might gain a momentary upper hand, but in reality, even if she ran he would catch her and drag her back. If he dragged her back he would hurt her, she didn't want him to hurt her anymore.

~His hands roamed her body, gently touching everything and feeling her trembling under the contact. He guessed it to be her finally realizing that this wasn't so bad, it could even feel good. With that thought burning into his mind, he turned her around and shoved her against the cliff base, unable to wait a moment longer to be inside her tight folds. Her hair covered her face and languidly floated in the water around her hips, the sight only served to entice him more. He grabbed her around the waist, angling his hands carefully under her ass and spreading her legs at the knees roughly, more so than he'd originally intended to. She gasped as the lack of gentleness, but said nothing, head against her chest as the tears kept coming.

~He situated himself at her opening and pushed in without waiting for her to adjust to him. Her cry of pain wasn't the same as it had been the night before, but he was sure he'd hurt her again, though pushed it from his thoughts and began his steady in and out rhythm.

~His core burned brightly, sending surging feelings of bliss rioting through his senses. He let one hand move from her ass to brace them against the hard rock, rocking into her deeper and harder with the new found balance.

~She was making tiny sounds against him, having pushed her face into his chest, each delectable noise sending him further and further over the edge. The rising orgasm started from his toes and worked its way up his legs, thighs, and hips, before it jolted into his core with a hard pulse.

~With a low growl, Sasuke leaned forward and nipped the tender flesh of her neck and rocked into her forcefully as the pleasure consumed him. His hot seed poured into her folds, but he didn't care, she was a medical nin she could easily keep herself from becoming pregnant with measured bits of chakra to the right areas.

~He waited there, frozen against her for the longest time, his snake summons absorbing back into his tattoos and freeing the nin's arms from their bonded position. She went instantly limp against him, arms hanging at her sides, with no intention of moving.

~As he pulled out, the sensitive organ caused a shudder to scream up his spine and a smirk to break out on his lips, it had been a very long time since he truly enjoyed the fruits a woman had to offer, even if she wasn't completely offering them.

~A choked sound emitted from his prisoner's throat, causing the Shinobi to push aside her luscious pink tresses to see. She was sobbing on his shoulder, the tears streaking down her face without any intention of ceasing. His eyebrows creased in confusion, he didn't think it had hurt her that badly, even yesterday she didn't cry like this.

~"Come on, Sakura. I'm sure it didn't hurt."

~Her gaze floated up to his and he saw not only anger and pain, but hopelessness. She had completely broken to him, wouldn't fight him, wouldn't deny what he wished of her, would just take it and expect nothing back. She was his slave… and she hated every second of it…

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Author's Note – FUN FUN FUN! **cough cough** ack kill me! I'm dying here…. Review!


	11. Shrieking Nightmares

Author's Note – Good god, yall are turning me into a crabby cow… -.-;; Whenever I have to do work on my freelancing for more than a few hours I get crabby and can't wait to come back here to write. Lol **YOU'RE ALL TURNING ME INTO A FANFICTION REVIEW WHORE!**

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Disclaimer: Do…Not…Own…WAH!

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**Chapter 11**  
**Shrieking Nightmares**

_"Even the stealthiest ninja,  
the most honorable samurai,  
and the bravest knight  
can still have weak moments of terror.  
Where the fear drowns out everything else."_

_~Lady A.R.R.O._

* * *

Sakura Haruno Age: 19 Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20

* * *

~Sasuke watched with intrigue when Sakura huddled against a nearby tree instead of close to the warming fire. The air here in the land of the Mist was always cold on clear, cloudless nights like this and tonight was no different. Even with her cloaked in shadows, he could see she was shivering, but he chalked it up to her sheer stubbornness. That damn girl…No, that damn woman was more thick-headed sometimes than even Naruto, she hadn't spoken to him since the hot spring either, another reason the Shinobi was morbidly agitated with her distance.

~"It's warmer by the fire," he pointed out, but she hugged herself tighter and continued to allow her body to shiver in the freezing air.

~"I don't bite." He debated over his words for a second, remembering the bruise marring her collarbone and shoulder, "I _won't_ bite."

~"Leave me alone." She was being irritatingly mulish now, a trait he found disgustingly annoying in her. If she wanted to freeze to death she could, but not before he got his fill of her.

~He rose to his feet and stalked over to her side, reaching down to grab her arm and yank her closer. She hissed at his touch and slapped his hand away, the willful defiance made his calm demeanor ooze anger. "Knock it off dammit! I'm trying to help you."

~Sakura bolted to her feet, there was a moment when they both glared at each other, him thinking she was an annoying Kunoichi while she thought he looked like a huge, ugly spider. She couldn't control her raging emotions and felt her chakra surging and fist flying before she could stop it. When it was all over, Sasuke was thrown back across camp and smashed into a tree, splinters spraying everywhere like shrapnel and the dust cloud rising up from the scene looked like a miniature mushroom cloud.

~He groaned and tried to pick himself up, rubbing his screaming face. Her blow had struck home on his cheek bone, what was more surprising was he hadn't seen it to felt it coming. She was too quick, leaving him to realize she was very much more than met the eye.

~"Fine," he said quietly, not bit of emotion hiding there, "you can freeze to death for all I care." He opened his thin blanketed bed roll and slid in, leaving Sakura standing in the darkness alone. If she didn't want his tenderness when he gave it, she wouldn't have it at all.

~Sakura's right hand twitched, the all consuming pain in her knuckles pulsed up her arm in tune with her heart beat, but she didn't say anything, allowing the pain to take over. She needed this to be painful, it needed to hurt… she had to hurt herself. Without this pain, she was nothing, could feel nothing.

~Minutes ticked by as the Kunoichi stood alone, never moving in the jet blackness away from the fire. She was waiting for the male ninja to fall asleep, then she could take her kunai's blade tip over her skin, feeling the sweet burning sensation taking over her body, mind, and soul.

~His breathing leveled out finally, allowing the medical nin to climb the tree shadowing her to find a good, silent place away from those dark eyes.

~"Always watching," she whispered to herself, drawing out her lethal weapon and playing with it between her fingers, nimbly flipping it end over end, making it almost dance on knuckles. A useless trick she'd learned through years of mission boredom and hours of practice.

~She took the blade's handle and touched it to her skin, the tip pressed against the porcelain flesh, but not yet piercing. Just feeling it there caused blood to rush through her temples. It had been awhile since she'd done this and she needed it.

~A whirlwind of thoughts devoured her mind, leaving nothing behind but the rot of hopeless emptiness. No matter how hard she tried, no amount of washing away the guilt for letting Sasuke leave to turn into the_ thing_ he was now, would alleviate her fears. He had left because she wasn't strong enough to make him stay, she was pathetic for being unable to prove to him enough how ardent her love for him was, and useless to him now because she couldn't dissipate the feelings of aversion whenever he touched her. She was exactly as he'd said to her so many times before, _"weak and annoying."_

~The knife broke her skin, lightly at first, the blood pillowing up into a tiny pocket before she drew it down her arm from wrist to elbow. Her red essence dribbled leisurely, rivering down her arm and making bloody crevasses in her flimsy flesh. A soft sound erupted from her throat, the coo of pain quickly smothered as she bit her lip and willed away her weakness. She shut her eyes against the sting. Tonight she would be stronger, force herself to become what she wasn't when she was younger. Slowly, she was pushing her feelings and emotions from her shattered and broken mind, if they left her she could become strong.

~"What are you doing?" A question pierced her mind and her eyes flew open, staring almost innocently up into Sasuke's glaring gaze. He absorbed the scene before him, carefully trying to find his next words, her kunai's tip sat dangerously close to her pulsing vein just beneath the broken skin's surface. There was no way he'd have her death on his conscious, annoying or not, he felt something for the woman who used to be his teammate through thick and thin, no matter what came. She had even tried to save him, he had to give her credit and not let her die.

~"Nothing," she whispered, moving her hand away and letting her arms go slack. Hazy unconsciousness toyed at the failing edges of her mind, threatening to take hold before much longer. The darkness was closing in and she liked the feeling, enjoyed the drowning in sleepy sorrow that came with her bloodletting. No amount of alcohol or drugs could have possibly given her this kind of high.

~He knelt down in front of her and took her arm tenderly, turning it over to inspect the damage. His touch sparked something inside her body, a needy response she quickly tried to stifle, but his nimble fingers wouldn't allow her to shove the need away.

~For some reason he knew she wouldn't heal this wound, not when she had so many others littering her wrists and arms that had gone unhealed by her chakra, not to mention the ones he'd seen earlier lining her upper thighs. When she'd shown him her scars before, he'd brushed them aside as girlish fanatics, something to be gotten over with time and abuse, but the more he turned the thoughts over in his mind, the more he wondered about this woman's claims. She said she'd loved him, or at least had loved him at one time. He wondered if in some small insignificant way whether it was warped to not by pain and anguish, if she still cherished him.

* * *

~His wrap job on her arm had been slow and precise, ensuring that she lost no more blood and it wasn't so tight that she would try to claw it off in her sleep. He noticed as she slept the fitful eye twitches that swam under the surface of her lids. She was having a nightmare, probably about him, he hadn't exactly been chocolates and roses to her since he chased her down for the scroll she'd rightfully obtained. That thought pissed him off, he never let a woman get the better of him, and never let his emotions take such a gripping hold on everything inside him. He could easily have shrugged Karin off in a heartbeat, ignored her trashy come-ons, pushed away any woman's impertinence and never gave them a second thought, let alone have the gall to rape one for defying him. Sakura was this enigma he couldn't push from his mind. She was weak because she loved someone who honestly didn't want to be loved. She was annoying because she felt things he himself hadn't been given the chance to, yet or ever.

~Her pink locks fell across her tranquil face, covering up her eyes and lips and Sasuke haltingly reached down to brush them away. He couldn't believe how long her hair had gotten in just a few years since she'd cut it off in that attack with those ninjas, and though he hated to admit it to himself, he smiled because it framed her face beautifully. Tenderly his touch traced her strong jaw, curving up to her temples before he brushed his thumb over her lower lip. A need grew in him then, not a sexual tension he'd been feeling ever since he dragged her with him, but one he had forced himself to never give into.

~_"Never kiss them_," he muttered in his own mind, even as the battling need begged him to. _"She'll never know you did it. Do it before she wakes, you may never get this chance again."_

~"Dammit." His inner self was winning the one sided fight against his emotions. What little of them he had left intact.

~Sakura twitched in her sleep and murmured something unintelligible, her lips pursing into a tiny pout and Sasuke prayed with everything he had in him to keep control of his insistent urges threatening to take over if he didn't cap them soon.

~_"Just one kiss,"_ he told himself, just one couldn't hurt anyone, especially not her. It was the one thing she'd wanted probably more than anything else he could give her.

~He leaned forward, hesitant when her breathing accelerated softly and he felt her sweet breath on his face, the burning need to touch her was rising to new levels. Closing the gap between them, he felt himself falling prey to the need in this kiss and almost groaned against her yielding mouth when their lips touched. He had to be gentle for fear of waking her, but he didn't want to pull away just yet and touched her chin with his thumb, forcing her mouth to open to his. His tongue snaked into the slack orifice and touching, feeling everything there was about her softness.

~Sakura moaned into his mouth, apparent even in her sleep that she felt this gentleness and enjoyed it. It made the dark Shinobi all the more insistent. He wanted to hear those tumultuous, delicious sounds, his core practically begged for her to do it again, but he warded it back and pulled up from the kiss. His face hovered for a few seconds over hers, struggling to control his shrieking insides and to prevent himself from hurting her more with his unquenchable needs. Though, he couldn't help himself to touch his lips once more to hers and gave her a tiny peck, instantly regretting it when her body lurched unexpectedly and a agonized cry rippled from her throat amidst her nightmarish world.

* * *

_~"There's so much fucking blood!" She screamed, the bodies piled high on this desolate wasteland that she assumed to be a battle field. There was so much death, so many were crying for help that would never reach them. It was too much and Sakura's knees buckled beneath her, throwing her helplessly to the arid soil that rose and stuck in her nose, full of the stench of death and blood._

_~Her eyes darted about, hands clutching tight to her temples, "where are you?" She cried, "answer me!" But nothing came. She was alone here with the crying dead, there was no one here to save her this time, he was long ago gone to a place where he couldn't reach her._

_~"I'm sorry," the tears bubbled over her lower lid and poured down her cheeks, "I'm sorry, my love. Please!" She wrapped her arms around herself and screamed into the turbulent sky, the ensuing downpour of rain spattered the ground, washing away the pools of blood. It began to river… the blood, rushing passed her body and turning her legs red._

_~"Wait…" She murmured, looking herself over. She wore the tradition ANBU gear, the same protectors, the same tight fitting clothes, except these weren't her own. Hands reached up to her head and pulled down strands of black locks._

_~"Why?" Her voice choked out, "why am I in his body?" The realization that she was Sasuke overwhelmed her. She was unable to understand why she continued to see through his eyes._

_~Her eyes caught a flash of pink and it drew his attention away from the bleeding ground. Legs that weren't her own pushed into motion and flung themselves forward, the necessity to find the pinkette… __**his**__ pinkette was all consuming, driving the body she inhabited onward at a breakneck pace, knowing he didn't have the energy to keep it up for long._

_~"I knew you would come," the nin recognized her own voice and went to turn towards it, but it was too late. Searing, gut wrenching pain engulfed this body, centered in his chest and the eyes that saw looked down and glimpsed the sparkling shine of his own blade piercing his body. Instantly, his breath seemed stolen from him, oxygen almost too painful to take in and his black gloved hands reached for the hardened, bloodied steel._

_~Sakura's figure blurred in front of him, her own ANBU gloved hand stretching forward and rubbing his cheek so tenderly it almost hurt more than the sword. Almost. She pushed him back, watching him hit a cliff base and the sword was driven deeper into his chest cavity, pilfering his breath as the Shinobi turned to the sky to screech, the sound more like a dying feral cat than a man's._

_~"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I have to save you from yourself." There were glittering tears there, staining her cheeks and the red rim on her lids meant she had been crying for a long time. Such a long time, he knew. Both of them had felt so much pain in the past years, none more so than her, and mostly because of him._

_~There was a darkening, hazy moment where the Sakura inside Sasuke felt herself slipping in and out of consciousness along with the body's inability to stay alive much longer. She saw herself standing at the blade's end, the tip touching her chest. It was then that Sasuke noticed the prominent bulge under her ANBU gear, she was pregnant… he didn't understand why he hadn't noticed her before._

_~Sakura grabbed fistfuls of Sasuke's clothes and set her eyes on him, full of morbid determination, "I'll go with you… we both will." Even in his haze, even though she had been the one to betray him and ultimately kill him, the overwhelming feeling of dread for what she was about to do overtook him._

_~"No-" he choked out, "don't…do…it…Sakura!"_

_~The Kunoichi smiled solemnly and pulled her Shinobi close, Kusanagi's end penetrating her chest. She made a soft whispery sound as pain flowered out from the point of impact, but she ignored it and drew Sasuke closer, inevitably impaling herself deeper on the blade. Everything was going in and out of focus so quickly that inner Sakura couldn't understand what was going on, the light struggled to show throw, but then there was moments of darkness and she fought to hear what her other self was saying._

_~"…forgive you… We…tried harder for them… I'm… afraid to go." She brushed her knuckle down his temple and smiled painfully, knowing he was carefully watching her. Hands took hold tenderly on his face and brought him closer, their lips touching. It forced everything from their minds; the pain, the anguish, the hurt, nothing remained but their two souls in this one moment._

_~Something within Sasuke burned deep, he hadn't been able to say it before, had shied away from it every chance he got, but he could say it now. With the last vestiges of strength he had, feeling the world falling away from them as their bodies fell to the cold ground, he returned the heartfelt gesture._

_~"I… love… you," he mouthed._

* * *

~Sakura bolted up right, throwing herself into Sasuke's less then expectant arms. Tears flood her cheeks and she fisted his shirt front in her hands, begging for his intoxicating scent to whisk her fears away. "Don't," she sobbed.

~The dark haired ninja, caught aback by the pinkette's closeness, haltingly struggled in his own mind of what to do with her. He didn't want to throw her back, push her off him like he had done in his younger years, it would hurt her feelings and she was delicate, all women were in situations like this. But he didn't know if it was a good ideas he allow her to hug him like this, almost like she needed his comfort, men like him weren't able to show comfort very well.

~"Don't…" she cried harder, burying herself deeper into his body, her racking sobs shaking him to his core. Something had terrified her, brought her to this level of needing him even when she knew he was a monster to her.

~His arms slowly wrapped around her, pulling her into his lap and cradling her trembling body. This feeling of being needed was completely foreign to him, even Karin in all her wiles of slutty womanhood never went so far as to even _pretend_ that she actually needed him. Both of them had an understanding, he would fuck her to satiate his needs, she would allow it because she was a whoring bitch in need of someone to focus her attention on. He just happened to be the one she set her eyes on.

~The longer he held her there, savoring her willing touch against his body, the more he wanted it. She held him, not because she was frightened, but because she needed _him_. It was that thought that cemented him to his spot and rocked her soothingly until her sobbing had ceased.

~"What did you see?" He asked as length, nearly expecting her to tell him nothing, but she surprised him.

~"I was in you," she started, confusing the Uchiha for a moment, "I was in your mind. I was you… Everyone was dying and there was blood everywhere." A pushed back memory of how Sasuke had found his parents that day in the compound danced in front of his eyes, and like he always had before, he shoved the meaningless information away.

~"Yes. And?"

~"I watched myself kill you through your eyes."

~Sasuke's hands tightened their grip for only a second, if this was just a nightmare, they could easily have shrugged it off without needing to worry about it. Although, if it had been a vision from Hibibiju, they knew there was no way to avoid what she had seen, nor could she unsee it. To comfort her, he relaxed his grip shook his head, "it was a nightmare. Ignore it."

~"I can't, Sasuke. I'm scared for you, I don't want to kill you."

~"You won't." He slowly let her go, relinquishing his grip and climbing to his feet. Exhaustion plagued his mind right now, that's all her wanted to deal with at the moment, not the ramblings of some terrified little girl whose dreams held no hold on him. He climbed into his bedroll and turned away from her.

~"Please," she begged, "stop being selfish…" More tears slipped down her cheeks, "stop thinking about your own problems and put someone's else's before your own, dammit, Sasuke!"

~He turned to look at her, so many memories clashing within his soul right than he didn't know how he was able to deal with them all at once. It was frustrating how much he remembered from his past when those crystalline tears fell from her eyes…

* * *

~_The moon was bright that night, shimmering its rays off of everything and sending out a warm glow, but the entranced Shinobi didn't notice. This was where he left everything he knew and felt comfortable with to do as his brother instructed. To become stronger so he could kill him._

_~He couldn't believe that that damn girl knew he was leaving too, saw it in her eyes as she pause in his vision from her hiding place. She knew him almost better than he knew himself some days and that pissed him off, but he shook away the emotion and stopped a few feet in front of her, "what are you for? It's a little late for a stroll."_

_~"This is the only road out of the village."_

_~"Go home, Sakura." His voice said her name gently, sending sparking shivers down her spine even then and he knew it._

_~"Why?" He already walking passed her and she turned to face him. "Why won't you say anything to me? Why did you shut everyone out? Why won't you tell me any-"_

_~"Why should I tell you anything?" Temper pricked only slightly, he cut her off, knowing what she was going to say. He couldn't turn around though, knew he would see her tears, could hear them hitting the cement road, but didn't have the strength to turn around to face her yet._

"_You meddle too much, Sakura," that spiteful jab hit her home and her tears increased. It was hard to watch someone she adored so much, hurt her in such a way. "Stop bothering me all the time."_

_~Sakura looked down at her shoes, overwhelming pain taking over her soul, but in her grief she smiled, "you act like you hate me, Sasuke." It was agonizing to know he did indeed feel this way sometimes about her, although she knew better. He wouldn't have saved her so many times, wouldn't have helped her, eased her worries or her pains if he didn't feel something for her._

_~"You're clan died. I know that your brother did it, but taking vengeance won't heal you. It won't bring them back, you won't find happiness on this path, not me… not you…"_

_~"I know that. I'm like you, Sakura. I'm not happy and cheerful. I'm not like that idiot either, how he's always straight-forward and helping. I…" He couldn't finish, didn't know what else to say to her. His feet started to go again, but her voice rang out._

_~"Don't go!" She was saying, "don't go alone. I'll come with you, I can help." He couldn't allow that, she would be tainted by his revenge, turned from the pretty little flower she was now into what he knew he was slowly becoming. This wasn't a road for a cherry blossom to follow._

_~"I know I'm not much, but I can become stronger, I promise you I can," she was still trying so hard even when she knew it was futile to push against him. He was like fire, hot and scorching, burning everything that he came in contact with, while she was a cool spring river, bending with the ebb and flow of the winding rapids. She would never be able to become what he was, they were too different. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Sakura Haruno meant something to him, enough so that he was willing to let her go to become a strong and good ninja without his tainted soul screwing her up._

_~"No." He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he knew he had to do it fast, blurring behind her faster than her eye could catch. She had to accomplish things here on her own before she left the village and secretly inside his mind, he hoped she would one day leave the here to find him, to bring him back when his mission was completed._

"_I could scream." He knew she would if he didn't let her have her way._

"_You won't," he breathed right on her neck, taking in her addicting scent. It was so strong now, mixing with the scent of her tears, he wanted to hug her and make the pain stop, all the pain __**he**__ caused her._

_~"Please… Sasuke… I love you…"_

_~Those words pierced him, he'd heard them from others before, but they meant nothing to him. Here… here was a tiny, weakling of a Kunoichi bearing her soul to him and he felt his ice cold insides pulse slightly with heated life. If he brought her with him he wouldn't be lonely, she could be useful to keeping him on his mission, but an image of her bleeding and dead flashed across his mind. No! She had to stay alive, he needed her to stay alive for him. So long as he knew she was all right, she long as she continued to get stronger without him, he could be satisfied that she would be okay and that it was all for the better._

_~He had to steel himself against his feelings, nothing else mattered and he smiled gently at her, glad she couldn't see, "…you're annoying." She flinched and almost touched her back to his chest, not a wise move, he was still trying to take hold of his flying emotions. "I could never love someone who looks like you."_

_~Her knees buckled and she clutched her face in her hands, "how can you be so cruel? What's wrong with you?"_

_~His resolve was slowly shattering, he had to be out of here soon or he would break and that wasn't allowed, "Sakura. I cannot be saved, not me. I am all ready condemned and all I'm doing now is running on borrowed time. So I'll do what I need to do while I'm still breathing."_

_~"Then what! You kill Itachi and what then? Where will you go?"_

_~"I suppose then I'll go find a place to die." He heard her audible gasp._

_~"I'll come find you," she hissed, but her words were laced with a needy emotion, one he knew little about… Love._

_~Sighing heavily, he grabbed the back of her collar and flung her into a standing position, bringing a kunai to her neck and touching the razor sharp blade to her throat to prove he was very serious, "if you come and find me, I __**will**__ kill you." He regretted having to do so, but brought the edge of his fist on the nerve of her neck and her eyes grow wide in shock as consciousness slipped from her grasp. His strong arms caught the falling pinkette, lifting her up before turning towards the bench behind them and setting her down gently. She was fragile like glass, only more beautiful, like a glass cherry blossom._

_~"Don't follow," he pleaded into her ear and pulled something from his pocket, a small, satin ribbon the color of obsidian and left it in her hand. It was the only thing he'd ever been given in his life that meant anything, and the only thing he would ever give to someone else._

* * *

~"Sasuke," the Kunoichi murmured from her seated position on the ground, her chin was glued to her chest as she brought him from his passed memories. "C-can…" She paused as if debating her words, "can I sleep with you?"

~He thought about it for a moment, apparently a moment too long and Sakura hugged herself tighter, afraid to go back to sleep. "Come here," the words broke through her reverie and she peered up at him, seeing him open his blanket to her, scooting over slightly to give her room. She crawled in next to him and huddled up close to his endless warmth, fanning her fingers on his chest.

~The feelings that rose in his throat as he watched her succumb to exhaustion and eventually sleep cracked him slightly. He'd spent so long telling himself he needed no one and nothing except his eternal hatred for his brother. That was all he needed to be comforted at night, but the way this nin buried herself into his chest, the feel of her hands planted on his body soothed him more than anything had ever soothed him before. She was an incredible Kunoichi; breathtaking, powerful, strong, beautiful, feeling, kind, generous… yet had a hard edge about her that warned you she was infinitely dangerous even with her weak emotional setbacks.

~Sasuke gasped when he realized what he was thinking. He covered them both with the blanket and settled down at her side, his hand and arm holding up his head as he watched her sleep. It was unmistakable the thing he was feeling towards her. The gentle nudgings of his heart were telling him so… he was beginning to love her again.

* * *

Author's Note – AWWWWWW! Sorry, I needed to be "slightly" OOC, I mean you can't tell me that wasn't adorable and totally something Sasuke would do when he was taken totally aback by it. I mean this IS a Sasu/Saku story, you have to have him warm up a little bit before the story can progress. Anyway, I'm still sick as a dog and still writing, I'll have another chapter up before long today, keep watching it, and don't be afraid to look up my profile and see the other workings of stuff I have in the making, it'll be bold printed and italisized, not too far down from the top. And do go look at my Akatsuki story with Sakura, though it is a smut fest, it's still good I think lol.

P.S. Please excuse the liberties taken when I give Sasuke his flash backs, sure it's a little different then the anime or the manga, but I do it to progress the story in a particular way, if you don't like it. I don't suggest you read fanfictions, all of them tend to bend the story _slightly._ It wouldn't be a fiction otherwise lol TY! Review!


	12. Memories Falling Like Cherry Petals

Author's Note – Having a good time being sick and writing, I'm actually having fun, I'm glad my manager turned me onto this site. I didn't think I'd enjoy this, but having people read my fanfictions makes me happier, lol. Gets the ideas out and helps me take on criticism better, I suppose. Sorry I know some of you have PMed me and I crawled on your case, it wasn't intentional. Read on guys, have fun and hoping the deadly fanfiction bug where you can't read the next chapter in some stories is fixed for you. I know I've been having problems trying to read chapters with that damn "email our fanfiction department with your problems" thing going on. So annoying.

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Disclaimer: DO NOT OWN NARUTO! DUH!

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**Chapter 12**  
**Memories Like Falling Cherry Petals**

_"Time's  
passage through the memory is like molten glass  
that can be opaque or crystallize at any given moment at will: a thousand days  
are melted into one conversation, one glance, one hurt, and one hurt can  
be shattered and sprinkled over a thousand."_

_~Gloria Naylor_

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

* * *

~He watched his sleeping Kunoichi, than caught himself when he thought how she was _his_. She wasn't his, it was some figment of his delusional imagination, brought on by the need to constantly fuck her. His eyes floated down her body sucking in those curves and carving them to memory. Everything about her had hardened since his departure and he wondered if he was the blame for it, she hurt herself because he left. He wondered if she would have gone through so much pain if he had brought her with him, or even if he had stayed.

~So many things kept straying his thoughts, but they all had one thing in common, they were all about her. The day they'd met, when she and him joined the same team with Naruto, when he became her friend, when she opened up her heart to him… Images bombarded him over and over again and he forced himself to ride the waves, drawing deeper into himself and to where it all started.

_~Pain, all consuming, never ending, eternal… It fell all around him like rain drops, too many to count and drowning him in their torrential back flow. Inside him there was just this growing emptiness that he thought could never be filled again, not after all of this insanity had come to pass._

_~There was no one about, not in the compound, not in the streets, not on the roads, the city was a lifeless corpse as the young boy took himself into the rain to bear through his unimaginable agony, alone. No one would have noticed him anyway, no one ever seemed to as of late, not since the Uchihas were murdered in cold blood by none other than the eldest Uchiha son._

_~The boy could still remember his brother's face; his smile, his laugh, the tenderness, the joy. He could still remember it all, but it didn't matter, none of it did anymore. Pathetically weak and without anyone in the world to matter to him and no one that felt that he mattered, it wasn't a too far off guess to assume the poor boy would just go off the deep end and commit suicide._

_~Itachi's words burned holes in the younger boy's head as he watched in awed terror while his parents bodies continued to bleed to death, even though their inanimate eyes glared up at him with malice and complete avarice. They would never know breath again, nothing of heat, or warmth, or touch. Nothing of love or light… or life. Death had taken their souls to the depths of her heart, clawing and shouldering her way towards his as Itachi drew closer to his younger brother, sword glimmering in the quick flashes of lightning._

_~Fear was written all over the youngest Uchiha's face, a marring emotion that was tearing his insides apart, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not this. Not from his beloved, playful, kind older brother._

_~"I forgot about you," the red eyes murmured as they danced closer, causing a cry to erupt for his tiny brother's throat. The older stopped, not quite understanding the sound for a split second, but then realizing where he was, his attention focused completely on the boy._

_~"Sasuke…" Came the quiet voice, calling out for the young boy to listen, "do you hate me?" Shaking his head in terror, Sasuke knew he couldn't hate him. At least not yet he didn't._

_~Shoving his brother's words from his mind, the battered child broke into a cold run, tearing down the unused street as fast as his legs would carry him. He couldn't think about that day anymore, it too closely resembled today. The rain was pelting the Hidden Leaf Village just like back then, lightning streaking across the jaded sky, and the enveloping gray darkness was slowly taking over._

_~Sasuke ran until his legs burned and his lungs screamed. He hated his life, couldn't believe he… A damn Uchiha would be forced to survive it without the aid of his loving family and doting brother… Coldness shocked his system, Itachi was no longer his brother, he was an enemy. Not just to the village, but to his family… to him._

_~Unable to go any further, the Uchiha son stopped in the dousing torrent, out of breath and struggling to hold himself up. He was fading fast, exhaustion, starving, all these things were swiftly moving in and feasting on his thoughts, drawing him into a near stupefied, awake coma. When suddenly, he snapped. His eyes went dark and spied off into space as his body plummeted to the ground. No one was here to save him this time, he thought and felt the blackness of uncertain darkness caving in on him._

_~"Are you okay?" A tiny sound, more like a mousy squeak than anything invaded his thoughts. At first he pushed it away, wanting to curl into the fetal position and cry until he had nothing left to cry with, but a caressing hand touched his freezing cheek, warming the skin there._

_~He opened his eyes only slightly to look through his eyelashes and spotted a young girl holding a green umbrella, with glistening pink hair done up in pretty bow. She was kneeling down at his side, umbrella forgotten it seemed over the body of a fallen boy lying in the middle of the street. Exhaustion forced him to close his eyes once more._

_~"Hey, did you fall?" She was questioning him against and he nodded, unable to do more. There was a feeling of his arm moving, being moved into a position and wrapped around something… or someone. Again, his eyes opened and found the girl helping him to his feet, pulling him out of the street and in to the sidewalk where the rain couldn't touch._

_~They sat there a long time, her arms folded around him while he snuggled into her lap, absorbing every ounce of loving warmth he found there. And finally… he slept. Slept without the nightmares, he just floated there in the ebbing tide of unconsciousness, letting it soothe his insides much as the young girl was soothing his outsides._

_~She said nothing, not once. No comment of complaint, not about her needing to leave, it seemed everything she had to do was right here with him and he felt something growing inside his soul at her tenderness._

_~As he awoke, he found himself sitting in a restaurant booth, his head cradled still by the girl who'd rescued him from the drowning street. She had her hands twined in his hair, leaning her back against the wall of their booth and she was fast asleep. He didn't know her, she didn't know him and yet she'd brought him here, scooped him in from the rain to keep from dying. The kindness confused him, there shouldn't be kindness still existing in this world, not after what his brother did._

_~In a flash, Sasuke ripped himself from the girl's grasp and leapt to his feet, tearing off out the door before more confusing feelings and emotions rippled through him that he couldn't control._

_~It wasn't long before Sasuke saw the pink haired girl again, when he started school, she was there an ever unwavering presence just like so many of the others striving to be ninjas that he would come to know. But none so much as he would come to know the young girl. Even Naruto in all his asinine glory, and though they were best friends, he didn't even know the Dobe as much as he knew of Sakura._

_~He felt it, felt himself falling, there was no stopping the descent this time. There wasn't enough left of himself after the last mission where they saw__** him**__ to even allow Sasuke to be human anymore. He had fallen so far away from the sun and the light that all that was left was his empty shell, the core ripped out of him so violently he didn't know if there was a way to find himself again._

_~The water was tepid as he drifted through it, unable to remember how he even got in here in the first place, just floating through it as the evil taint of his soul was moving in on him. He was glad he was dying now, no more swirling emotions of hatred, no more rage. There was just a calm about it as he continued to fall away from reality that he felt could be the best bliss he ever encountered in the whole of his life._

_~Hands gripped him, drawing him close to a body. He didn't want to go with them, they were trying to bring him back to earth, forcing him to live when all he wanted to do was go into the calming darkness. Air was shoved into his lungs against his will, the feeling of lips braced against his rocked his mind. So soft he couldn't resist them, almost didn't want to and the darkness fell away as the light poured in._

_~Sakura… that damn girl! She was helping pull him to the surface of the lake he'd let himself fall into. If he'd had the strength he might have fought her, but he didn't and the to the best of his efforts he could only watch in awed amazement as the girl he'd taken for a weakling hauled his dead weight, soaked, sorry ass from the water and laid him on the cool grass._

_~She leaned in close to listen for breathing and when she found none, her medical knowledge slipped in to take over. Her hands pumped his chest, fingers pinching his nose, and lips pushing air passed his blue lips._

_~His mind begged her to let him go, pleading with everything inside his soul to be allowed freedom from his endless hatred and regret that constantly ate at him. He didn't want this kind of a life, never asked for it, but it was thrust upon him and now he wanted out._

_~"Dammit, Sasuke!" She shrieked, trying harder to revive her fallen teammate and friend. If he wasn't such an idiot like that damn Naruto, she wouldn't have to save their asses all the time. She pumped his chest harder, feeling the regretful tears searing the backs of her eyes as he lie lifeless before her, but she wasn't about to give up on him, not yet._

_~"You can't go," her voice came out in low, cat like hisses pushed through clenched teeth, and just when she thought she would have to tell her team how she was unable to save their friend, the young black haired Shinobi coughed._

_~Breath came is gasping wheezes, water bubbled up from his chest and poured out his mouth and finally his eyes filled back up with that fiery glimmer the pinkette knew and loved. _

_~At first he was calm, silently accepting Sakura's tight embrace and tearful mourning for the friend she nearly let go of. She did this quite often now days, was always hovering around him, trying to meddle into his affairs, although he had to give her credit. As much as both Naruto and himself seemed to have to save her from the physical problems of being a ninja, protecting her on missions, and keeping her ass alive. She offered everyone she seemed to come in contact with her emotional support, offering no bars bound to anyone who needed a shoulder or a friend. He didn't understand why he hadn't noticed it sooner, but it was all ready too late…_

_~The memories coursed through him, every time he was with her, every time she spoke to him, all the battles, the missions, the times, the moments. Everything moved through his mind slowly like the passage of time through an hourglass, he was relieving each memory as they happened, the good ones and the bad. She had been there, always… Protecting, saving, crying. As annoying as it had been to save her all those times, he'd neglected to remember all the times she'd saved him from himself. His past swirled around him like the falling of cherry blossoms, beautiful... silent... covered in blood..._

* * *

~"Sasuke…kun…" Sakura mumbled in her sleep, her breath hot against his ultra sensitive neck, sending mind numbing shivers up his body and down to his core. He couldn't believe the effect she had on him, it drove him insane sometimes. The closeness of her sweet, delectable body was driving him mad and if he didn't get himself in check soon he was going to molest her in her dreams.

~He breathed in deep, coaching himself through the pulsing need, pulling his hips back to keep from waking her, but she tightened her grip on his shirt, moaning into his collar bone when his fingers traced her thigh unknowingly.

~"Damn," he hissed through clenched teeth, retracting his impish fingers.

~Her breath accelerated, dancing across his skin and setting it ablaze, "Sasuke. Please…stay..."

~He couldn't take it anymore, the wonderful sounds and moans she was making were driving him crazy. It wouldn't be good for either of them if he lost his tempered control and he rose to his feet, careful not to wake his sleeping companion. She needed rest and not the fitful kind brought on by nightmares and frightful Shinobi trying to molest her in her dreams.

~As much as he hated doing it, he left the warmth of the fire and of the woman confusing his thoughts to walk a forest trail to clear his wandering mind. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought he was losing his steely grip on things, all for the tenderness of a Kunoichi he'd left so long ago.

~"Shit," he told the sky, ramming his fist into a tree trunk. She was getting to him, under his skin, like she always did. Only before she would just be an annoyance with occasional bouts of insightful intuition he'd come to expect of her, but now it was different. He actually burned to touch her, needed to touch her and didn't want anything less than her complete compliance with it. The past was something he thought he had buried and had full intention of leaving it that way, he wasn't supposed to make it home. When Itachi was dead that was it, he was going to go find a place to fizzle out and die. He was the last of the Uchihas and nothing was going to change that, there needed to be no more children, no more Uchihas, not with the history they had of murdering their own kin and friends for the power that was gained through the knowledge of murder.

~If he continued at this rate he would be completely, inexplicably in love with the pinkette. There wouldn't be any denying her wishes, he would give her anything she wanted no matter the cost or the price.

~The thoughts swirled around him dangerously, clouding his mind and dulling his senses. At first he didn't catch the slight shift in chakra until the ninjas were upon him. Six. All from the village of mist where the living scroll had been stolen.

~Twelve eyes glared at him from their hiding places in the foliage, sizing him up to see if he had the scroll, and it was the leader who stepped hastily forward, flashing hostility. "You match the description of a rouge ninja who was in league with the red head who stole our village's treasure."

~Sasuke narrowed his eyes, this was perfect, a perfect way to forget about his issues with Sakura. He had to focus on this because if he didn't the thoughts about that damn woman were going to consume him.

~He stood stock still and didn't move, deafening silence rang in all their ears, but no one moved, prepared to take on the first attack whenever it came.

~"I don't have your scroll," Sasuke said truthfully, they didn't believe him and he didn't care if they did or not, the strongest ninja they had was their leader standing in front of him and his measly chakra output was dwarfed by the black haired Shinobi's own.

~"Just give it back and we won't kill you slowly," the leader threatened.

~"Maybe you didn't hear me because you stupid. _I do not have it_."

~The mist Shinobi flinched as Sasuke's energy flared up suddenly, sending pulsating waves the color of midnight through the air. Doubt seemed to flick across all of their faces as they tried to figure out if attacking was the best course of action at this point, but their leader wasn't about to back down. He charged head first, a chakra filled fist aimed, but it never made connection. Happening almost in slow motion, the mist ninja barreled forward with ease and experience, blue coated energy swirling around his fist and just as he would have come into contact with the Shinobi's face, he disappeared. Completely.

~"You are all so weak," he muttered, standing behind one of the female ninjas and jammed a kunai into her neck. She squealed low and gargled when blood bubbled up, dying there on the ground before anyone knew she was even gone.

~The others screamed as they died, the piercing sound cutting through the darkness of the forest floor and disturbing its occupants into full alert.

~With three Shinobi down, Sasuke shifted his gaze towards the man in front, the one who was shaking as fear crawled up his body like a disgusting sickness that couldn't be cured. He held two kunais in defense, a laughable one as his stance was sloppy and untrained. The Uchiha scoffed at the Mist's barrel of hack ninjas claiming to be half way decent warriors. They were fodder at best.

~A flash of brilliant pink caught everyone's attention and suddenly Sakura joined Sasuke from behind, leaving the remaining enemies gaping at the tattoo tarnishing her flesh. She had taken the forbidden scroll inside her body, a fate worse than death if not reversed quickly, but they hardly cared for the woman's safety, they cared for their treasure and they were aiming to get it no matter the cost.

~"Go back to camp," Sasuke ordered placidly, but the annoying Kunoichi shrugged him off saying nothing, much to his irritation. "Go, dammit. I'm in no mood for your attitude."

~"What so you can make all this damn racket? No thank you, the creepy crawlies and spider monsters might get me if you're not there to chill them away with your cold demeanor." She crossed her arms over her chest, looking as irritatingly attractive as she had while she was sleeping.

~"I won't hesitate to let one of them hurt you if you get in my way."

~"You think I'm going to get in _your_ way?" Her angry words poured out like spiting venom, if Sasuke had to guess what kind of animal she was at the moment, he'd have guessed a black mamba. "What if you get in mine-"

~Tired of listening to the two bicker, the mist leader bolted forward and grabbed a handful of her hair, wrenching her backwards. The distinct prick of a kunai shoved to her throat brought on a tiny jolt of pain that the woman hadn't been expecting, but it nonetheless pissed her off.

~"I'm not saving you, Sakura," Sasuke muttered, "you wanted to stay, now stay." It was his turn to cross his arms and he watched his words take effect.

~"You…" she hissed, emotions spinning inside her, a turbulent mixing of volatile ingredients that was sure to explode. "_YOU'RE NOT SAVING ME_!" She screamed so loud that the treetops shook and sleeping birds took flight. The tirade expanded outward, all her anger and seething hatred for the dark Shinobi spun out of control and her chakra intensified to a magnitude to the likes of which Sasuke had never seen before.

~Glowing green power poured off her body as if the girl was trying to keep her inner demon from coming out. She blurred out of her captor's grip, appearing behind Sasuke before anyone could stop her and she yanked out his prized Kusanagi. The movement had been so fast even the Uchiha hadn't seen it and though he masked it well, he was deeply impressed.

~Sakura let out a battle cry as she barreled towards the mist ninja, her body low and tight with all the skills required of using such a weapon as the Kusanagi. She tore into one of the lesser ninjas, the blood spraying her face from his slashed throat. He died before he hit the ground. That left two, the leader and some random poor punk ninja not yet old enough to have seen a woman naked. The boy would do, because she had need for the older, wiser Shinobi.

~In an instant she shoved the boy into a tree and ran him through, ramming the blade into the tree and leaving both the dying kid and the weapon impaled through. She took off after her final target as he tried to blur away, but Sakura smashed a rock solid fist into his gut and watched him stiffen before crumbling to the ground.

~Her haughty jade eyes turned towards her captor and caught them in her gaze, "are you protecting me now, Sasuke?" She taunted, "I don't need you fucking help, Shinobi. Remember that." Blood dripped off her face and chin, splashing her down onto her breasts. Her clothes were ruined, red essence staining nearly every inch of her.

~She snatched up the groaning nuisance by his shirt collar and screamed into his face, "tell me why I shouldn't kill you!"

~He struggled to find his lost breath, hugging himself close on his knees as the fiery tempered Kunoichi spat threats in his face. "I…" more gagging sounds ensued as he choked on the incoming air, "I know… how to get… the scroll out…"

~To this, both ninjas paused and looked on, Sasuke wondered if it was a quick process, Sakura just wanted to make sure it allowed her to live.

~"In the Pearl Pass there's another Mist temple that knows about the living scroll's history. I could take you-" his sentence cut off and his eyes dilated. A short dagger stuck out of his back and the pinkette could only guess who could have possibly thrown it. She glared at Sasuke angrily and stomped over to him, with every intention of forcing an answer from him.

~"Why the hell did you do that? He was giving us information-"

~"He gave us what we needed, we can go to Pearl Pass now. We didn't need him tagging along, it makes for an annoying trip and I all ready have an annoyance to deal with." He stalked passed her without another word and went to the tree impaling the dead Shinobi, it impressed him that she didn't seem the least bit perturbed about the surrounding gore, maybe she was finally growing up. It was about damn time, but she still irritated him.

~The Shinobi turned and came face to face with the pink Kunoichi, unbridled fury dripped out of every pore, her green chakra pooling in her shaking fists.

~"What? Did I say something you didn't like?"

~"I'm not annoying," she seethed.

~"You are. If you had just given me the scroll, none of this would have happened," his voice kept a quiet, even keel to it, without a shred of emotion. "You could be heading back to your safe harboring leaf village no worse for wear... Possibly still a virgin." He knew his last words would cut into her, possibly make her hate him and keep her at a distance so his sparking emotions could die back down to tolerable levels.

~Her hands shook harder, the knuckles turning white as she struggled to keep down the raging inferno that was taking over her. She had done what he'd told her years ago, gained strength, gotten stronger, stopped feeling for everyone. In the years he'd been gone she had shut out everyone so she could stop being so aggravating, all for a stupid asshole who didn't even see her on equal terms as a _human being_. He made her feel like a bug… No worse than a bug, like dirt.

~"I have spent every day since you left, training. I become a medical _Sannin's_ apprentice and have finally become her equal. I'm a damn ANBU medical nin, and you still treat me like I'm that weak little girl you left on a bench. All for your fucking revenge!"

~Sasuke's gaze stayed even with hers as he tore the sword from the tree and kicked off the corpse, "you didn't do enough. You're still pathetic."

~The anger rose to a level Sakura could no longer control, the rage blazed through her and she leapt on the Shinobi. Her echoing hell cat screech tore into the night air and the sounds of battle began.

~She threw her ninja stars which he tossed aside with the hilt of Kusanagi, if she wanted to play he'd play, but he was going to teach her to curb her temper. He charged forward, lashing out his foot in a tight roundhouse kick and she ducked at the right time, throwing her foot out to trip his, but they blurred apart. Her speed had increased, he gave her that one, but not fast enough.

~The pinkette yanked out two kunais and battled Sasuke back when he made another attempt at a close attack approach, her blades clinking loud, metal on metal. She lashed out and the blade's tip sliced up his undefended arm, drawing blood, that small accomplishment forced a smile to break out on Sakura's lips.

~They came at each other again, kicks and punches flying too quickly to be seen. Sword hit kunai and before long, her Tonto, both clashing together so hard they left forest wreckage behind them.

~Seeing that they were matched in physical prowess, Sasuke knew he had to think of something else to end this battle quickly, he was tired of playing this game with her and assumed she'd have given up all ready, but he mentally smacked himself when he remembered who he was talking about. His two ex teammates were the most head-strong, stubborn annoyances he'd ever met and when they set their mind on something, it almost always took hell, high water, and sometimes death to deter them.

~He dug his hand into his bleeding wound and jumped back, waiting for her to follow which she did almost instantly and he waited for the right moment. With the gap closed, he flung his wrist and blood spattered the nin's face, instantly blinding her.

~She growled like a she-cat and froze, unable to determine the Shinobi's whereabouts. Suddenly a fist crashed into her gut, throwing her into an ancient, immoveable tree. The ensuing crash echoed loud, stealing all the breath she had in her lungs.

~Sasuke stood, waiting for her to give up, sheathing his blade. When the Kunoichi staggered out from the rubble, he paused and glanced in her direction.

~"Not… this…time," she bristled. This wasn't about showing him her strength or about proving she had listened to his words, everything inside Sakura begged to show the dark ninja that he was _wrong_. She closed her eyes and waited, listening to the sounds of the darkness around her. Swells of invisible energy pulsed inside her, churning and rippling like stringy waves, they moved outward and touched everything within reach; the trees, the grass, rocks, everything. When Sasuke came at her again intent on smacking her down, he came into grasp of the feeling chakra and noticed too late what she had done.

~Transparent hands picked up the powerful Shinobi and wrapped him up in their tight embrace, freezing him dead in his tracks. The hands were cold and it felt as if they were everywhere all at once, tugging, pulling, feeling… draining him of chakra. He couldn't move with those hands on him, leaving him completely defenseless to Sakura as she sluggishly came forward.

~Her eyes were hidden by her long locks and when she looked up, Sasuke noticed her irises had changed to a sickly gold color. He wondered if it was the power of the scroll aiding her, or if this was truly something else the nin had learned while he was away.

~She ran her gloved fingers down his chest seductively, drawing herself painfully close to his face. "Your chakra is weakening from the Sharingan," she whispered in his ear, sensing him shift uneasily, there was no way that she could see his failing energy.

~"Let me out, Sakura," he ordered sternly, refusing to admit he'd been beaten. This was unforgivable, to be outmatched by his weakling of a teammate, even if the power she possessed now was from an ancient scroll.

~"Aww, Sasuke do you feel powerless? Weak?... Good," she drew close to his neck, eyeing***** the curse mark and touching her lips to it softly.

~The Shinobi's eyes grew wide with the touch, his breath catching in his throat, "what are you doing?" His voice sounded hoarse.

~"Playing," she whispered, trapping his head in between her hands and tangling her fingers in his hair to give it a hard jerk. His head snapped back, those damn freezing chakra hands were still all over him, but they were slowly warming up and touching places that only a woman's hands or his own were allowed to go.

~She brushed her lips across the seal, tongue coming out to sample the glistening flesh. He tasted like sweat and blood, but there was something else she couldn't quite place… something masculine… she liked it. Her teeth scrapped his neck, causing him to shiver involuntarily, his giggled cutely and repeated the movement.

~"So am I still weak and annoying?" Her hands cradled his jaw, shifting down to his chest and ending at the top of his pants. She was baiting him and he didn't like it, he wanted the control.

~"Yes."

~The smile dripped from her lips and her hands went limps at her sides, he couldn't say it still, wouldn't give her the least bit of credit for anything she'd done and accomplished. He was such an idiot…

~"Fine," she murmured, "you can sit in the dark and the cold all by your damn self." Her knee came up swift and rammed into his lower gut, extinguishing the warm feelings in his core. His eyes shot open as unconsciousness swept through him and for the first time in years, he felt weak…

* * *

Author's Note – Sakura's my bitch! Yay! I don't think Sasuke's gonna be too happy when he wakes up from that one, BELIEVE ME…. He really isn't…. Anyway, review! Thanx byes!

_*** - **_The astrick up where it says "eyeing" I know it isn't spelled right but I cant even tell you how many people think this word's spelling wrong when I just put eying, like it's normally spelled. So I killed the English language to change it here lol. Sorry!


	13. Snowflakes

**Author's Note** – Well, now that I've played around with the two main's personalities and their feelings and emotions enough, I'm gonna progress the story now. Have fun!

P.S. I apologize now, I'm going back to correct some story blips and mess ups. I forgot until now that Sakura is the oldest of the three and Sasuke the youngest, I for some oddball reason kept thinking Sasuke had a February birthday while Sakura's was in March. I'll go back to change their ages and to update and weed out the mishaps in spelling and grammar now. It's been bugging me as I reread some of the chapters and should change them while I'm thinking about it.

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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**Chapter 13**  
**Snowflakes**

_"You  
are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying  
organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost  
pile."_

_~Chuck Palahniuk_

* * *

_**Sakura Haruno age: 19**_

* * *

~She knew he would wake up soon and when he did he would either hurt her or ignore her, either way she was going to be in pain. It wasn't wrong of her to show Sasuke her strength, at least not in her mind. He'd spent so long degrading her, pretending to hate her, showing complete disdain for her very presence, that finally she had just snapped.

~"He deserved it," she muttered, hugging herself closer. The quiet lullaby of the forest was soothing, but didn't completely ease her worries. There was always something tugging on the edge of her mind and it gave her no rest.

~Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, Gaara… All her friends. She had left them all behind on a false mission set forth by Orochimaru under the guise of a man she loved… Used to love, her mind had to correct itself. She no longer loved him, a taint of hatred had wormed its way into her heart and she couldn't reign it back in, so she let it blossom and grow. If she could hate him, he couldn't make her sad anymore. She wouldn't have to hurt herself because of him.

~Her attention moved up to the sky and took in the vast space, filled with millions of tiny sparkles that twinkled and lit up the night. This was her escape, the piece of herself untouched by the hatred and regret she felt with everything in her life.

~There was a rustling behind her and her eyes darted to the sound, expecting some kind of a ghost to pop out and make her shriek, but Sasuke's limping form came through and she sighed some relief, although it was an irritated one. She should have used some chakra, he might've stayed down a little longer, maybe even let her sleep all night without his damn presence to make her feel low.

~He stood next to the fire, looking at it with a placid expression before turning towards the brooding Kunoichi. She was sitting in his bedroll with her legs against her chest, soaking up the heat from both the fire and the blanket, but she rose to her feet and left it to go to her pack. There was a pregnant silence that went on for a few minutes as the Shinobi debated on his words to her and she debated whether to set up her own tent and leave him in the cold. In the end, she decided on the tent and set about the preparations when a hand grabbed hers and slowly turned her.

~There was a smoldering heat in his eyes that the pinkette couldn't read. It could easily have been hatred or anger, but the longer he stared down at her the more she realized it wasn't either of those.

"_Lust?"_ She asked herself, although her mind knew it wasn't that. The emotion seemed softer, less hungry and more needy.

~"I'm… I'm sorry."

~Those words. Those two damn words that stripped her of all clear minded thinking and made her that sputtering little Kunoichi from back in ninja training. He'd _never_ apologized to her, not for being who he was, not even when he knew he was wrong. Everything suddenly seemed foreign to her after those words, like time had frozen for just a moment to signify this one second. She exhaled suddenly, realizing her breath had been held and time quickly moved back into place.

~He moved hesitantly, pulling her forward and wrapping his arms around her chest in a light hug. If he had been any tighter he thought she would break, but she remained there, stony and silent.

~"I'm sorry." Sakura shivered when he whispered in her ear and let her head hang until he couldn't see those uncut jade orbs.

~After a few minutes of silence, he was the first to break away and went to his bed roll, not another word spoken to her. She just watched his back for the longest time, her mind was a race of thoughts, not any one in particular seeming to stick out. Nothing seemed to make sense to her, one second they were fighting and now he was expressing… remorse.

~Shaking her head of the thoughts, she turned back to her tent and finished setting it up, all the while telling herself it was just a fluke. He was probably just not thinking clearly, neither of them seemed to be that night and she just pushed it aside and stopped worrying about it.

* * *

~The two others of Sasuke's team showed up the next morning, their information almost exact word for word of what the mist Shinobi had told them the night before. They had some extra tidbits though that Sasuke hadn't allowed to be spoken, mostly just rumors and legends the townspeople had been talking about, but one in particular stuck out in all of their minds. The living scroll couldn't be taken from a living host without taking the host's life.

~Suigetsu didn't seem in the least bit worried about the legend, and Sasuke was silent without a shred of emotion flickering across his face. It made Sakura mad to think that they were both probably debating on just killing her for the damn scroll, they seemed to need it so badly.

~"What's it for… I mean besides seeing the future," she questioned when no one spoke, all four of them standing around their dead campfire. "It doesn't even work right, all I see is bits and pieces, I can't control it."

~Juugo was the first to speak, "it gives the host the power of Ganimaru." He continued when he saw the pinkette's confused expression. "Ganimaru is an ancient demon in the shape of a bird. She devours men and her enemies, absorbing their abilities, chakra, strength and makes it her own. There are five _Ultimate Living Scrolls_. One for each of the five countries. We just happened to be in need of the Mist's."

~Sakura turned to Sasuke, expecting him to add something, but he was as silent as the dead and about as entertaining. He carried a brooding look on his handsome features, his arm draped behind him on the hilt of Kusanagi. There would be nothing of use coming out of his mouth unless it was to tell them what was to transpire next.

~"So I have the powers of Ganimaru now?" Juugo just shrugged at her question, no one uttering a word.

~Suigetsu seemed unnervingly troubled about all this information, he had an idea of things to happen, but shared his thoughts with no one.

~"We go to Pearl Pass then," Sasuke said at length, startling everyone from their collective stupor. There was a stern finality in his voice that led everyone to believe he was angry, but no one asked him about it. He knew this trip would be arduous and long, his mind was a whirl of ensuing thoughts, both bad and worse. With his grave need for the living scroll inside the Kunoichi, he wasn't sure how to react about the legend Juugo had found. He wondered if worse came to worse, would he be able to go through with his self procured mission? This was all in an attempt to kill Itachi, the means would be suitable for the end he was seeking, but if that was the case, he didn't understand why he couldn't just kill Sakura now and tear the scroll from her lifeless corpse. He'd murdered many before and without thought as to who they were or who they had waiting at home for them, but Sakura was different. She seemed to understand his deep need for the scroll, although he knew she wasn't about to give up her life so easily, especially when the reason for it wasn't one she agreed with. He was sure the three remaining Shinobi of Taka would be able to bring her down no matter how much power the ancient demon could give her, but an emotional attachment to the damn pinkette had welled up inside him without his knowing or his permission. If the temple in the pass could offer some clue as to how to take the scroll without hurting Sakura, he would do it.

~Suigetsu was following along the train of thought that they should just kill the girl now, she was pretty but her looks meant nothing in the end if they overshadowed the main goal of his fearless leader's wishes. His hand itched on his blade and Juugo caught it. "You should put yourself at a distance," the insanely tall Shinobi muttered, closing the ranks around the girl. If it was Sasuke's wish to go to the Mist Temple in Pearl Pass, they would do so, no matter the time or distance… with _everyone_ intact.

~Sakura followed closely behind the only ninja she knew, a cloud of uneasiness blanketed her the farther into Mist country they went. She was unsure of her traveling companions, one looked at her like she was a piece of meat, something to devour chunk by chunk, while the other though more protective, had an aura of monstrous proportions she hadn't noticed before. They were both dangerous and she knew it.

~The trip would take weeks, possibly even a month to get just to the mountain. Winding trails, dense forest, heavy snow, it wasn't made for traipsing through, not for humans, not even for animals. The cold itself was mind numbing. The small village at the mountain's base just barely survived the winters for the most part and only hardened ninja veterans and rogues seemed to inhabit the one inned, one grocery stored, and a few beaten up huts, place. If they were going to trek to the temple, which was likely deserted, they would need mounds of equipment, not including the clothes and food supplies.

~"You actually mean to climb to Pearl Pass for information on a scroll that may not even be there anymore?" Sakura murmured at Sasuke's side as they darted through the foliage. They had left the other two only a short distance behind, but they kept pace.

~"I could just kill you right now if that's what you wish."

~She sighed and looked away, "no. But what happens if there's no one in the temple to help us-… you… get the scroll out?"

~"Then we search for someone else."

~"What if there's no way to get it out without killing me?"

~He glanced at her stoically, "then you won't be making it back to Konoha." The response shut her up instantly and she tripped over a branch, fighting to cover up the misstep and keeping her distance from the brooding Shinobi. After the last few days and _still_ Sasuke was as cold as ice, he was still selfishly following the path that Itachi laid out for him all those years ago. He wanted nothing else, but to end his brother's life, the amount of dedication to his bloody goal sickened the medical nin. She would be his casualty if he didn't get what he wanted, she knew that. It made the dark taint of hatred within her glassy heart crack just a little more.

* * *

_**Naruto Uzumaki Age: 20**_

* * *

~He sat silently in a tree nearby the entrance to Konoha. Every evening he'd make himself comfortable here, waiting and watching the road, the dust making mini tornadoes to amuse his intent bored gaze. It had been such a long time since he'd seen his best friend, and only a little while since he'd last seen his love interest. It hurt so much to know that she'd left without a word, people asked and rumors were spread, none of them were good.

~Hokage Tsunade tried to quell the banter in her presence, but everyone knew that the Haruno girl was gone, all for that stupid deserting Shinobi. They couldn't understand how such a nice, intelligent, young woman could leave everything behind to chase after such a badly tainted ninja. What was worse was that they all talked without knowing all the facts.

~Sakura had been broken when Sasuke left, the blonde knew this, had watched her descent into silent madness with every passing day, and watched in horror as the scars kept appearing. First there were excuses, next came the thicker, longer sleeved clothes, then the denial… finally she just stopped and admitted to them, but by then it was too late. She was a destroyed piece of pink haired flesh, no better than a carbon copy of her former glory. And still he loved her, still he would have done everything for her, to her, with her.

~"I love you so much," he whispered to the air, praying she would see reason and come back, so many people missed her and needed her. Ino was a wreck of crying emotions without her best friend, Hinata had no one to talk to it seemed, Tsunade was overloaded with patients and her duties, struggling to balance the two, and even the insanely rude Sai seemed down without her presence.

~Sakura Haruno's charisma was needed in so many lives, whether she knew it or not, she was important, so much so that even the Kazakage of the Sand Village, the ever unfeeling Kyuubi, felt an intense attraction her. She helped move everyone on with their lives, no matter who was in need. She unconsciously helped them without a thought to herself. In the years she'd been left alone without her parents and without her Sasuke, she pretended to play the role of the unfeeling bitch, but in the end her true nature always won out. It was why Naruto supposed he loved her so much, he needed someone who was selfless and wise, who know how to be strong and weak at the same time.

~He rose to his feet and punched the poor tree's trunk, causing a minor indent. "You come back!"He screamed to the sky, "you bring her back in one piece! Or I swear to Kami I'll fucking kill you, Sasuke!"

* * *

_**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**_

* * *

~Weeks dredged by, for the most part in godforsaken silence. Sakura didn't speak to the others unless she had to and they paid her the same mind, even Sasuke hadn't touched her since they fought that night. He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that she was just a shadow to anything he was thinking about, not even worth debating over.

~Even though the Kunoichi was glad she didn't have to appease the Uchiha's insatiable lust, she felt sad he wasn't touching her. Whether she cared to admit it or not, his touch excited her and sent pleasurable sparks of hot white lightning cascading down her body, unlike anything she had ever felt before. If only it would mean something to him, then she wouldn't feel the need to sob when he was done with her.

~The inn of the miniscule mist village only had two rooms left and it didn't take a genius to know who got which room. Their travel had been long and Sakura was only too glad to finally have a real shower and bed to sleep in, even if she did have to share it with her dark haired companion in this shabby, about to fall apart hole in the wall.

~She closed the bathroom door softly with a click, leaving Sasuke sleeping on the less than appealing bed she was sure was crawling with all kinds of nasty things. He hadn't asked her where she wanted to sleep, simply relieved himself of his clothes and climbed in without a word. She didn't see the harm in getting clean while he let exhaustion overtake him, even though she was as tired if not more so than, he was.

~Her shirt came off first, the only one she had left after Sasuke's blade relinquished her of her corset top and blood spattering stole her second. She threw the fabric to the floor, relishing in being released from its filthy, sweat soaked confines, if she could find time to wash her things tonight, she would. Otherwise tomorrow when they went to the store for supplies she would buy herself new garments along with the parka, pants, and shoes they would need as well for the trip.

~She pushed down her shorts and panties, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. The fully healed scars of the night she fell on her mirror were pink and slightly raised against her normally tan, porcelain flesh. Her fingers brushed over the tiny reminders, but gave them only a passing thought, they were made by her own anger and self indulgence in self mutilation. If she could easily let go of her need to make herself bleed, she would've, though it reared its monstrous head here and there without thought as to who it was affecting. She was slave to the need and an addict the pain, it meant that for one small insignificant second, she felt something more than her own thoughts.

~The door creaked behind her and she turned to see Sasuke entering, his hair slightly ruffled by his haphazard sleeping position. He would've look cute if there hadn't been a touch of hunger lining his dark irises. She knew what he wanted and resigned herself to it without a sound, he would have easily taken it from her anyway and she knew the men in the next room wouldn't come to her aid if she screamed.

~She waited a few moments under his piercing gaze, expectantly pausing so he could drink in his fill of her body in actual light, not just from the dim moonlight of the forest. When the seconds dragged on into minutes, she lifted her gaze to his and saw a perplexed look on his face, adding to her confusion.

~"What?"

~"Your body seems… less sharp," he hadn't noticed it until she was fully unclothed, but it was true, since the night he'd taken her virginity her body seemed to have a rounder look to it.

~"Are you calling me _fat_?" She asked incredulously, never in her life had she been called that. Maybe 'ugly' maybe even 'unattractive', but _never_ fat. With everything she'd done as a ninja, all the endless hours and sleepless nights of training without food, there was no way for fat to form on her body. She was taut, lithe, thin, and beautiful, they both knew that, but something nagged at Sasuke's mind. He knew she looked a little different, but he couldn't place it.

~When she received no answer, she huffed audibly and turned to the shower, not caring how much of her nakedness he saw. He'd seen it before and he'd see it again before this trip was over.

~She climbed into the shower and closed the curtain behind her, feeling the steaming hot moisture waterfall on her drew her into a sweet relaxed oblivion. Behind her, she heard the Shinobi enter the tub, but he made no move to touch her as he studied her pleasured expression and blissful smile. It amused him to watch her enjoy the frivolous things in life, such happiness from such simplicity and yet she seemed perfectly at peace with it.

~When she at length opened her eyes and drew her attention to the staring Uchiha, she wondered what he wanted with that amused smirk playing at the corners of his lips, but he waved his hand as if to allow her to continue and she turned her back to him to wash her long tresses.

~Her shampoo smelled strongly of cherry blossoms, such a feminine scent and one he knew she would have picked out on her own. The soap lathered into a thick layer of pink bubbles that cascaded down her glistening body and swirled down the drain, it all mesmerized him until he didn't know what to think or do.

~As the shampoo washed out and she was ringing out her long thick hair, she looked up at him, smiling at the memory of him years ago when he was her same height. Now he towered over her, menacing yet protective in some ways. It would have been more of a comfort had the nagging thought of his wanting to tear the scroll from her body not been hanging on the fringe.

~She moved aside to let him under the water, moving to the back of the tub to watch. At first she just gazed over his body, taking in the muscles and the sheer lean power he exuded, but the more her eyes absorbed, the more she realized how the years had not been kind of his body. Scars from battle wounds, weapons, and jutsus covered him from head to toe. There were cuts, burns, gouges, every horrible thing imaginable had been thrown at this man and yet he remained as stoically unbroken as he always had been.

~Her hand snaked out and touched one scar on his left shoulder, a cross marking wound that was deep and still raised. Though it was likely several years old, it still looked angry and new, the dark pink coloring shown out on his ivory skin.

~"What happened?" She asked when he looked at her, his hair hanging in sopping tendrils around his face, the water pouring off his body.

~"A fight." Nothing more, he didn't want to elaborate. The past was the past and should have meant nothing to him, at least only pieces of it shouldn't mean anything to him.

~When her fingers ghosted farther down, touching and taking in his other blemishes, he felt a pleasant shiver go down his spine, gooseflesh appearing on his arms. She was gently brushing her fingertips against the stab wound on his gut, so close to his center, but she didn't seem the least bit embarrassed or afraid. It amused him, although he did remember she was a medical nin, when the situation wasn't the least bit sexual, he was sure she could keep her thoughts to herself.

~"They looked like they hurt," she murmured, suddenly blushing when she realized just how close to his member she was, but she made sure he couldn't see it through her hair.

~"Sakura," his eyes burned suddenly, his sex became aroused and he took her arms to yank her up. He pushed her back against the wall and descended upon her neck, the sweet scent of her soap and her body intoxicated him. When she squeaked in surprise he just smiled against the flesh and nipped a little harder, causing red kiss marks to form.

~"Stop, come on, Sasuke. I'm tired," she whined, as if complaining about her exhaustion would have changed his mind.

~"Then don't do anything," he hissed and licked from her throbbing vein to her jaw, kissing along the bone until he reached her chin. There was a strange moment where he debated kissing her lips, they looked like they were in need of a quick ravishing, but he couldn't, kissing meant something to girls he didn't want them to think about. He wasn't here to love someone, didn't want them to think otherwise.

~He felt her hands ball into fists and push him back under the shower head, allowing her to do so because he felt her coming with him. She grabbed her soap bar before he could stop her and felt the rough scrubbing begin on his head. Her fingers started at the base of his spine and massaged their way up tenderly and finally ending in the tangled mess of his hair, working the castile into a heavy lather and rinsing away the grime of their journey. With that finished, she worked on his arms and chest, kneading the taut muscles and feeling them relax under her magical fingers.

~"Sakura," he warned when she moved down his body, inching dangerously close to the burning need of his core, but she ignored it and gently touched the base, moving her fingers around to grab it in her hand. It made Sasuke tense up, the pulsing inside him forced him to grow harder. If she didn't do something with him soon he was going to lose it.

~She squeezed lightly, fascinated by the way he twitched and wiggled, like he was standing on hot coals. He reached down with his own hands and took a tight hold of her wrist and hands, forcing her into a rhythmic motion that cause a virginal blush to spread across her cheeks.

~He simply smiled at it and continued to help her with the pace until she, in her own curiosity kept on without his aid. His breath hitched in his throat as he began to let the incredible sensations overtake him, allowing them to draw him in close to the explosion of pleasure, but he pulled her away just short, much to his own discomfort.

~"To the bed," he hissed, watching her nod in obedience and scamper out of the bathroom without a towel. It was good she didn't go for the cloth, they weren't going to need it.

~She trembled at his touch when he shoved her to the bed, the chilling night air took his breath away, but he didn't care, in a moment the cold wouldn't bother them. Her skin was still soaked from the water of their shower and glistened in the light beaming from the window, the snow outside seemed to intensify the moonbeams.

~He couldn't help but think she was beautiful, she was, even with her own scars and battle wounds, everything about her screeched hardened beauty. He liked it, wanted to keep it for his own.

~Sakura arched her back when he lowered his fingers to her sex's outer lips, expecting the feeling that was going to follow. She gasped when he instantly found her nerve bundle and played with it, rolling the nub between his thumb and first finger, relishing in her crooning sounds. It was good she was coming around to the pleasure, she might even begin coming to him instead of the other way around.

~"Th-that feels good," she blushed scarlet, pouting when he chuckled.

~"What about this?" He plunged his fingers roughly inside her searing core, wanting so badly to replace his digits with his fleshy rod, but he would wait, had the willpower to do so.

~"Yes," she breathed and bent her body taut like a strung bow. He nibbled on her ear and forced a strangled gasp from her lips, it was so easy to pull the reactions he wanted from her. Unconsciously she moved her head back to give him more access and he took it greedily, nipping, biting, sucking until she was a mass of trembling flesh beneath him, his fingers moving inside her in time with his lips.

~She was so close to her edge that she almost fall off, but Sasuke cruelly brought her back to earth before she could surrender, her disappointed whimper made him smirk.

~"Do you want me?" He asked. She remained motionless beside him and he pinched her breast to grab her attention. Her yelp echoed, but he ignored it and repeated himself, "do you want me?" She nodded, though no words could come out.

~"Then ride me," he teased, turning his body flat beside her and pulling at her hips for her to move. She sluggishly became aware of what she was doing about the time she had climbed on top of his hips and poised his hot flesh at her entrance. The realization was astounding and she blinked curiously, looking around.

~He had grown impatient with waiting for her to move, didn't care that she was coming to her bleary senses and took a tight grasp on her hips and slammed them down into him as he surged his own up. The ensuing collision of bodies sent shock waves bursting through them, the Kunoichi cried out and the Shinobi grunted. Neither had expected the union to be that fierce or to last for so long.

~Sasuke gripped tight to Sakura's hips and ground into her, ordering her movements to crash in tune with his own, showing her how to ride him much to her embarrassment, but he didn't mind. In fact, he enjoyed telling her what to do.

~The building tension between them kept bursting flashes of white light exploding behind his eyes and he knew the same was happening to his captive, her own emerald orbs were closed and facing the ceiling. He didn't like that, wanted her to watch him, needed her approval and he flipped her suddenly, flinging her to the bed. Her eyes shot open, but made no move to stop him.

~"Look at me," he ordered harshly and she nodded, feeling him delve deeper and deeper into her hot core. Her eyes never left his, her hips keeping the fast and hard rhythm he kept as the pressure began to pile again.

~She was breathing faster, her hands on either side of her head, his own trapping her between them. His pelvic bone crashed into her and made bruises, but neither cared, the pleasure was consuming them both in its fiery tempest.

~"Say it!" He growled into her ear, scooping up her chest and body into his grasp and lowering himself to her level.

~"I don't-"

~"My name," another snarl, "say my fucking name."

~She shook her head innocently and turned away when he cursed into her neck, his pace increasing to a tempo she couldn't keep up with, but it wasn't enough. He wasn't going to reach his peak without her saying his name.

~He yanked himself out and visciously dragged them both to the edge of the bed, snatching up her hips and driving back into her. She screamed and he groaned at the delicious sound, her legs wrapping around his waist instinctively while he stood over her and continued to pump.

~"Just say it," he whispered breathlessly, needing the release, had wanted this for weeks, but had waited until now.

~"I-I can't."

~"Say it, Sakura!"

~"Tell me you love me!" His hips instantly stilled as he glowered down at her. "I don't care if you don't mean it," she cried, the tears flowing down her temples and wetting her still damp hair.

~He leaned down to her ear, "if I say it, you know it won't mean a thing, right?"

~She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck, fingernails digging into his back. The need in them both was returning, the heat that had stock piled was to its breaking point.

~He groaned at the indents the nails left behind, enjoyed the tiny bit of pain they caused and he moved again. "…I… love you."

~Her breath hitched and she her nails dug in deeper, moving with him, coming so close to the engulfing light of oblivion she could almost reach out and touch it. She felt the fireworks go off in her mind and succumbed to the white hot void.

_~"Sasuke!"_ She shrieked and he gave in too, ground in one last time for depth and exploded inside her, his pent up need finally spent inside the pink Kunoichi.

~They laid there unmoving for a long time, saying nothing and when he finally pulled out, she bucked so violently against him, he held her for support.

~The chill finally got to them and he climbed under the covers with her, not expecting her to attempt to climb out and he snatched her up her waist and yanked her back. "You'll sleep here," he muttered and buried his face into her hair, inhaling her addicting scent that mixed with the fragrant cherry blossom shampoo and her own musky female scent of spent sex. Outside, the sky let down a blizzard of softly falling snow, but neither seemed to notice and they both drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note** – Review of course. I'm going to the bank… See you tonight!


	14. Snowballs and Fireballs

Author's Note – Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 14**  
**Snowballs and Fireballs**

_"Little,  
vicious minds abound with anger and revenge, and are incapable of  
feeling the pleasure of forgiving their enemies."_

_~Lord Chesterfield_

* * *

_**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**_

* * *

~"What do you mean you don't have Kunoichi gear?" Sakura heatedly yelled at the store keeper, who sheepishly stole a glance at her quivering bosom that jiggled when she screamed. It had to have been years since he'd seen a woman that wasn't a whore at the inn and there were only two of those girls and rot ugly ones at that. This one had a waist length mane of shimmering, curly pink locks that flowed down her body like some angelic dream, the man wanted to reach out to touch her.

~"We haven't seen any female ninjas here in years, why would I carry useless equipment that would just collect dust?"

~"You have to have _something_!"She growled, behind her Suigetsu sniggered and zipped up his parka jacket, they would be setting out soon and she had better have had something by then because Sasuke seemed in a mood to not care if she froze to death or not. Since that morning when he found her not by his side, but on the futon in the corner, he was in an out of sorts mood.

~"Fine, I'll take whatever male equipment is the smallest," she fumed and was thrown a heavy down jacket the same color as the outside snow. She would suffice with her leg warmers, it prevented the cold from getting in and she wouldn't have to lift them up every twenty seconds because they were falling off her ass.

~"You know," the man said suddenly, "there's nothing up there in the temple. All the mist keepers up there died out a long time ago. So why the trip? It'll end up killing you all."

~Sakura shimmied into the coat and mittens, feeling the heat of their closeness warming her temperature, "you don't know those men out there. They're not weaklings," she muttered, angry with how loosely the coat fit and cinched a belt around her hips to keep drafts from going up the bottom.

~"Don't say I didn't warn ya," he growled, saying something under his breath about it being a waste of a good looking woman.

~"Hurry up!" Suigetsu yelled from the door and Sakura took off after them begrudgingly, shouldering her large pack full of her own supplies.

* * *

~They began the first leg of the near three week journey, trudging through feet of snow, unable to go very fast with their heavy packs and the lack of stable things able to hold their weight. The cold was the first thing to get to the medical nin, she shivered in her parka and pulled the fur lined hood up over her head, smiling when it warmed her cheeks and tickled her nose. This must have been why Kiba enjoyed his coat all the time, it was warm and cozy, felt like something fluffy was hugging the body.

~"Dammit, bitch! Keep pace!" Suigetsu yelled at her and she noticed finally that she was last in line still and a good distance away from them, though there was no one else traipsing this way, and there was no way to get lost when the only pathway was carved in the mountain's side, they persisted on requiring her to keep their quick blurring velocity.

~She darted a head, pushing some chakra into her legs and jumping right behind Juugo and keeping their speed. Her intrusion had an effect on Suigetsu and she could feel his piercing gaze boring holes into her back, "what!" She growled out at length.

~"Fall in line, bitch. Your place is behind me," he was snarling fiercely, and the pinkette felt it necessary for her own well-being to listen to him. Sasuke didn't seem to care about their argument and she didn't feel like getting in trouble for beating up one of the Shinobi's teammates. Apparently her place had no rank and thusly Sasuke felt no inclination to protect her. She shook her head of the thoughts. She didn't need that damn Uchiha to protect her, she could match him in chakra and ability, maybe not brute strength, but she was strong, she could take care of herself.

~"Asshole," she bristled, looking up just a second too late when a small drift of heavy whiteness came crashing over the edge of the pathway's cliff and covered her. There was a loud outpouring of expletives as the shark man laughed until he was in tears, while the other two looked on in amused silence. Juugo made no facial expression, kept his normal straight lined lips, but a smirk played on the Uchiha's lips and that was the only thing Sakura saw as she broke through the snow's surface.

~She clawed her way out without help, not that they were offering any and made her way back to their pack without a word. Her face was burning coal red as Suigetsu continued poking fun at her and Sasuke raised an eyebrow in curiosity. She kept her eyes on the ground and stomped after them angrily, debating on choking the damn water nin, but had to keep herself in check lest she anger their leader.

~Hours passed by and _Shark Boy_ was still snickering. Their pace was slow now as the snow was at their waists, and the trudging match of wills and waning chakra power had begun. Irritation stung Sakura's mind and she wondered why they didn't run the cliff wall, it wouldn't have taken that much chakra and it was faster than this, but Sasuke refused, even told her to stop fooling around when she attempted it.

~"He's purposely putting us through this," Sakura growled and Suigetsu heard it. He sniggered again and continued to poke fun now that he knew she was agitated.

~"How's being a snow bunny working out for ya?" His teeth were menacing, though not enough for Haruno to bite her tongue.

~"Shut up, loser."

~"You can kiss my ass, weakling. You know I'm gonna kill you when we can't get that scroll out, it'll be fun. Like killing a little-" something flew at his head and smashed right into his face. He didn't get a chance to see it. It was hard, wet, freezing cold, and now dripping all over his face.

~"You, bitch!"

~"You don't have anything else to call me, toothy?" She already had another snowball and was tossing it in the air teasingly, making ready to throw it.

~"Try it, whore! I'll rip you to shreds!"

~She threw it and he morphed, the ball growing through his head and coming out like a cement ice ball on the other side. Its momentum kept it moving and it smashed into Juugo, causing both nins to freeze.

~Juugo paused momentarily and ever so slowly turned to face them, anger lining his stern, quiet features, "what is going on?" He was seething, ready to charge them, but something touched his shoulder and the tall man saw Sasuke's gloved hand. Instantly the anger that had flooded him was quieted and he just glared at the two nins.

~"You, asshole!" Sakura screamed and leapt on top of the white haired Shinobi, "fucking piece of fish bait!" She was smashing her fists into his head, only getting more pissed when his head morphed into water every punch she threw.

~"Take it like a fucking man!" Her anger had overrode clear minded thinking and she couldn't hear Sasuke ordering her ridiculousness to cease, it didn't help either that Suigetsu kept cackling too loud to hear much of anything.

~"I like this new position," he warbled through her useless attacks, reaching for her hips to grind his own up into hers.

~Sakura froze, this new sensation made her want to vomit. He was actually aroused by her attacks and was pressing himself into her to prove it. She didn't know if he was stupid or brain dead and took up handfuls of his parka collar, shaking him violently back and forth like a ragdoll.

~The scene would have been more comical had Sasuke's hand not been twitching at Kusanagi's hilt. He was about to kill both of them and let them rot, that damn woman was making everything so difficult with her pink hair, bad temper, and annoying attitude. Even the typically rancid talking water nin was grating on his last nerves, the only one likely to survive this day was Juugo and it was because he was _silent_.

~Sasuke snatched up Sakura by the throat and lifted her up off his teammate, kicking the Shinobi in the process. His Sharingan eyes came forward and locked on Sakura, more for a menacing show then for anything else, he wasn't going to hurt her. "Keep your mouth shut for the rest of our trip, or I swear to Kami, I'll just kill you and be done with this whole thing."

~"But, Sas-" she was choking, her mittens grating against his gloves in a futile attempt to loosen his grip.

~"Close it! Don't think for a second that I won't hesitate to kill you. I want what you have and I've killed to get it, I'll do it again." He let her go and she plummeted to the snow, glad for the padded landing, but in tears over his declaration.

~She hugged herself on her knees, gulping down precious oxygen and trying to keep conscious. He'd terrified her right then, there hadn't been a shred of morality in that look and she knew there was truth ringing in his eyes when he said it. He was doing her a service because she used to be a friend and teammate, no matter how annoying she had been or still was. Plus, it would have been bad to have a lethally pissed nine-tailed fox on his heels when news spread that Sakura had been murdered, but his patience was wearing paper thin.

~Her gut suddenly churned unceremoniously and the pinkette turned to the side and released the contents of her stomach all over the ground. She had been more frightened then she'd originally thought and clutched herself until the dry heaving stopped.

~"_I hate you_," she whispered, causing the Shinobi to pause, but not a moment later he continued to head the group.

~"Good. I'm glad you do." That was all he said to her after his threat. That was all any of them said to her and even in camp that night they kept her out of their conversations, much to her dismay. It was like she didn't even exist.

* * *

~They set up their own tents before dinner about two weeks later, the meal was a choice of frozen berries and dried jerky they'd purchased from the store in the mist town. Sakura ate nothing and drank little water, she was too busy feeling mixed up about everything and exhausted. Her muscles ached from the trip, and she chalked it up to the abnormal journey, she wasn't used to traveling in snow.

~She set up her one person tent away from the other three and climbed in, careful not to trek in the frigid snow and winter air. The night would be long without him next to her, though they hadn't slept together for the most part, she enjoyed his warmth, welcomed it on the nights they camped and he wanted her body heat.

~_"if I say it, you know it won't mean a thing, right?..._ _…I… love you."_ She knew he didn't mean it, but it felt so right to hear him say it. It didn't make sense, why couldn't he love her? She was strong, beautiful, able minded and bodied. Any man would kill to love her, to be her husband. She had a well known name, was of good lineage and came from a long line of well trained Anbu Medical Nins. Her genes were phenomenal and could grant any man a good family, so why couldn't the one man she wanted see that?

~She curled herself into a ball and cried, the sound drowned out as the arctic chill set in and overrode her voice with its own shrill scream. Nothing mattered, she didn't matter, life didn't matter, it was a waste of time and energy. She should just stalk over to Sasuke's tent and tell him to run her through If she couldn't have what she wanted.

_~"You sound like a stupid fangirl_," her inner self said cruelly, "_he doesn't want you because you sound like that. It's pathetic, I wouldn't want you either if I didn't have to be in here. I'd leave your ass if I could waltz outta your fucking head."_

~"Stop," she told herself, "leave me alone and go find someone else to bug."

_~"I __**would**__ if I could leave your damn head, stupid! You're so damn annoying!"_

~"I am not annoying," she hissed. "I just want him to love me," her voice had dropped so low not even she heard it.

~_"I don't get it, why didn't you just give him the scroll and go traipsing back to Naruto, or Gaara even? Both of them like you. The Dobe loves you. You don't deserve their attraction, but they do it anyway. And all you do it push them away and take their feelings for granted."_

~"I know, I'm sorry…" She sniffled, "I miss Naruto. I even sorta miss Sai… that bastard."

~_"You should have just given him the scroll."_

~Sasuke settled into his tent, climbing into his thermal sleeping roll and zipping up the side until everything was covered. He stared at the low tent top, listening to the whipping wind. He couldn't believe what he'd heard from Sakura's tent.

_~"She missed that fucking Dobe? And who the hell is Sai?"_ He wanted to punch something it angered him so much and he couldn't understand why. If she wanted to go home to Naruto than she could do so after they got the scroll out of her, but the thought of that little idiot touching her, kissing up on her made his skin literally crawl. It wasn't the damn Kyuubi's place to _touch_ his Sakura. It was his alone and he'd do it whenever and wherever he wanted to. Hell, he'd have done it at the inn with his teammates watching if there had only been one room to share. He got two so they wouldn't have to be subjected to his carnal need, they knew enough about it with Karin.

~He tried to order himself to get up and stomp over to Sakura's tent and fuck her until she was crying senselessly, but he took a calming breath to cool his raging temper. There were too many emotions driving him tonight, one of which was this nagging feeling something about that damn girl wasn't right. Something about her was different and he couldn't place it and it was poisoning his mind, as was the thought that she might be more than just his ex teammate and friend, like she could be blossoming into something less instinctual and more poignant.

~These thoughts were infecting his and he shook it violently to clear it, hoping a long night's rest would still his rampant lust and runaway elations.

~Morning hit Sakura too soon and she heard stirrings of Juugo climbing from his tent nearby, he was the closest one to her. He chatted absent mindedly to someone, which at first she thought was Sasuke or Suigetsu, but when he mentioned how pretty their "coat" was, she unzipped the flap to peer out.

~The light pumpkin haired man was petting a snow leopard, giving it a piece of his rationed jerky. He was calm and smiling as the furry creature came to sit next to him and accepted his bribery in exchange for a gentle pet.

~"Wow," Sakura whispered and both heard her, turning to look. The animal's fur stood a little on end as someone it was afraid of came into view, but calmed when Juugo's gentle caress made it forget its worries.

~She came out slowly and cautiously came a few yards away, sitting down silently and watching the two talk to each other, "that is very impressive."

~Juugo looked at her and genuinely smiled, it seemed as if yesterday hadn't happened, "I don't know why they like me, but I enjoy their company." He scratched the leopard's chin and continued his strange conversation.

~"I know it is… No, I don't think she knows yet… We don't call them that." There was nothing that gave any answers as to what their conversation was about and after a few minutes, Sakura was completely lost. One second they were debating weather conditions and the next the animal was begging for food scraps to feed his cubs. Juugo carefully counted out a few pieces of meat which was gratefully taken and it bounded off into the sparse woods, Sakura watching until she couldn't see his black spots anymore.

~"It was beautiful."

~"She… She was beautiful." He corrected and went about cleaning up his tent and munching on his morning breakfast.

~Sakura assumed that was her cue to find something to do and she folded her tent up to keep up pace, even though both Suigetsu and Sasuke seemed devoid of life at the moment. Neither exited their tents after Juugo set about making a small fire to melt snow over in a pot for drinking water.

~He handed her back her empty pouch and she drank from it greedily, her parched lips and throat gratefully inhaling every drop. When she downed it completely, she instantly regretted it, feeling it sloshing around in her gut disgustingly. It was then she conveniently remembered how empty her stomach was and found herself moments later retching by a tree away from camp.

~The sounds woke up Sasuke and he poked his head out curiously, watching the girl heave until all the blasted liquid was out. He looked to Juugo for answers and the man held up his water skin, and without having said a word an entire conversation seemed to go between them and Sasuke knew why the pinkette was vomiting so early and disturbing them.

~When camp was cleaned up and their water refilled, they set out again. More silence ensuing, making the lonely Kunoichi wonder how long this trek up could last. She was going to go crazy if she didn't talk to someone, she'd even take listening to Suigetsu if he would just have said something to her.

~The days dragged together, slowly, their pace hampered constantly by huge banks of snow and dangerous climbs. Sakura almost lost her grip to a cliff face and slipped a few inches before the normally silent Juugo grabbed her arm and hoisted up to the ledge he was on. He didn't seem to outright hate her like the others did, and since the leopard incident, he'd been unnaturally careful with her, helping make sure she was eating and sleeping.

~It had to have been him warming up to her, she was kind of stuck with them for a least a little while longer and she was glad he didn't mind her presence there, or if he did he masked it very well. But she knew it was he was enjoying someone who thought his talent with animals was amazing.

~Sakura fell into her tent one night, every muscle screaming with a shrieking ache. Even her hurts had hurts and she cuddled into the fetal position, ignoring Juugo when he called for her to eat something warm from the fire. She didn't want anything, her stomach hurt and muscles were too tired to try eating through some bone hard, frozen jerky. She didn't care if he'd warmed it on the fire.

~When he finally left, assuming she had passed out, she turned onto her back and yawned. There hadn't been a time that she could think of where she had ever felt this exhausted and wondered in the back of her head if something was wrong with her. She hadn't been eating very much, the trudging through ice and snow was debilitating, the freezing cold took a toll on her, this wasn't easy trek. She could honestly say to people now that she absolutely enjoyed the hotter region of Konoha, possibly even Suna more than Mist. This was by far one of the hardest things she'd ever done, of course she was feeling out of sorts, this wasn't just brutal this was downright cruel to keep up this pace. She wondered how the others were faring and if any of them felt the same.

~A storm was moving in that night, bringing with it a tempest of snow and ice, whipping it up all around them a sea of stinging wind and frightening wails. Nothing would be spared in its wake and Sakura lie in her thick bed roll almost in tears as her little tent shook violently in the gale. She was a damn grown woman and crying over the sound, sobbing so hard her chest was heaving and she couldn't stop hiccupping. It all didn't make sense, thunder and lightning didn't scare her, heavy rainstorms and flash floods didn't either, but here she was in a blizzard of snow and ice and she was bawling like a baby. If she hadn't been so afraid of the storm she'd have scolded herself.

~She didn't hear the zipper being pulled down or back up and didn't know someone had crawled in until a shadowed Shinobi blanketed her with their body. He crawled into her bedroll beside her and stared at her with hardened, steely black irises until she hiccupped and said something.

~"What do you want?" She gulped in air as her chest spasmed suddenly.

~"You know what I want."

~Sakura turned over away from him, "I'm not interested. Go away."

~Sasuke's arms snaked around her body and pulled her back to him, "it wasn't a request," he murmured into the shell of her ear, licking the lobe and taking it none too gently between his teeth. His hardened center dug into her back and she squeaked when he reached for her pants and tried to shove them down.

~"Stop!" She yelled, struggling somewhat but was constricted against his body and in the tight sleeping bag. "I don't want it, Sasuke. _Stop!_" But her cries went ignored as he unzipped the roll to give him more room and angled himself behind her, yanking down her pants and panties in the same fast motion.

~The Kunochi didn't even have time to scream when he shoved himself inside. She sat motionless, her face in her bedroll's bottom and her ass sticking up in the air. It hurt without her slickened arousal, but it didn't stop him from moving and to help her, he reached around and found her nub, giving it some stimulating attention.

~Without wanting to, she felt her insides contracting around his large sex, adding to her pleasure and forming adequate lubricant. She was enjoying this even though she didn't want it, "damn you, Sasuke!" She sounded like a she-cat in heat with all her heavy breathing and it made him smirk.

~He released her bundle of nerves and brought both hands to her hips, ramming himself into her at a steady rhythm, not caring how much she cried or begged him to stop. He would take his pound of flesh this way, if she was going to come along and annoy him the whole way. He cared less if Suigetsu was angry or hated her, he would take what he wanted when he wanted and wouldn't take "_no_" for an answer.

~Tonight he wouldn't last as long as he had at the inn, and frankly he didn't care. It was about his pleasure, his lust, his insatiable need, not her whimsical here today, gone tomorrow sexual attitude. She would bend to his will or he would hurt her and take it from her.

~The pressure was there again, building deep in his loins the faster he pumped. He had to reach it, needed to take hold of it. It was so close, burning hot throughout his whole body and turning the rhythm into a sporadic and random dance of hip twitching and grinding.

~When he at length found his edge and released his searing hot seed into her womb, he allowed her to flop back to her covers, exhausted and spent. She was in shock, trying to reason why he could be so cruel to her. All she wanted was to have been left alone tonight, left alone to brood in the darkness of the tent's measly confines and listening to the gale winds outside threatening to tear her apart.

~Sasuke drew close to her, closing the roll around them to keep out the cold. His hands reached down to her pants and pulled them up as it seemed she wasn't about to anytime soon and he nuzzled in close to her neck, moving her hair away so he could have better access to her flesh.

~"Are you still afraid of the storm?" He whispered and Sakura's eyes flew open, realizing that suddenly what was outside no longer frightened her. Whether he went about it the right way or not, he had managed to dislodge her terror and even now she felt... indifferent... not better, but not worse. At least the Shinobi was still here and holding her tight, it made his invadence easier to handle.

~Sakura awoke first and crawled from the tent, joining Juugo by the fire. He was stirring something in his magical black cauldron that could do anything she guessed and surprisingly the brothy goo he was concocting this morning smelled unnaturally good. She leaned in closer and saw their staple jerky swimming around, but there were other things like some freeze dried onions and carrots he'd brought as well. A biting hunger overtook her stomach than and she waited anxiously for the stew to finish.

~"Do you cook often, Juugo?" She asked suddenly when he finally handed her a bowl of the steaming liquid.

~"Yes."

~Sakura looked around and noticed that the sky was twinged pink and purple and gold, the storm had passed she thought and likely might not be coming back for a little while. Everything seemed so crystal clear, even though the air itself seemed nippier then she was used to, it felt painfully clear.

~"Do you enjoy it?" She was trying to pull more conversation from him, although he never really said much. He talked more with the animals.

~"Yes and no."

~She waited expectantly for more, but he gave nothing else and she sighed heavily, scarffing down her meal before it froze and turned to an ice cube. "Thank you." Manners weren't wasted on him, she knew and he smiled at her politeness, making Sasuke a bowl when he finally came tearing from her tent.

~Sakura had all ready finished her part in cleaning up the camp and was standing on the pathway heading up the mountain, peering over the ledge careful not to slip or fall. She looked down and realized with great fervor, that she was suddenly afraid of heights and took a few steps back. Everything inside her began to lurch uncomfortably and in a second she upchucked everything she'd just consumed.

~All eyes were on her as she wiped her mouth with the back of her mitten, "what?"

~Sasuke seemed to take no notice of the glances both his teammates were throwing back and forth between them, thinking he was either stupid or just dense. "Are you sick?" He asked, taking another drink of the stew.

~Suigetsu laughed suddenly, drawing the dark Shinobi's attention. "You don't get it do you?" He chuckled again and shook his head, "even _**I**_ noticed it before you did, Sasuke. That is a first. Her body almost reeks of the smell."

~Sasuke glared hard at his teammate, he wasn't going to ask for an explanation.

~"Oh, come on! Even Juugo knows it. Why do you think he's being_ nice_ to her when he didn't even tolerate Karin?"

~Sakura had drawn closer to them, her eyes darting back and forth between all of them. She was just as confused as Sasuke, wanting to know what they knew.

~"And what's worse is _she_ doesn't even know it. She's a fucking medical nin. So dense." He stood up and stalked over to where Sakura stood and dragged her back into camp, "she smells so tastey! Now Sasuke, use your swirly red eye thing."

~The Uchiha didn't like being ordered around, but if it would appease the questions, he would do it. His eyes faded from black to red, the swirling tear drops a striking jet black and he looked over Sakura carefully, not amused by the way Suigetsu was fondling her shoulders. That's when he saw _it_, the thing pulsing with life inside her, in her womb.

~Anger boiled up and he leapt to his feet, blurring over to her, snatching up her wrists and holding them above her head until he lifted her off the ground by one hand. His free one unzipped her parka and yanked off her belt, moving her shirt up her belly to reveal the tiniest of bulges. If he hadn't been looking for it, he would never have noticed it and without the Sharingan he doubted he would have thought it to be anything but fat.

~"What the fuck is that?" He screamed in her ear, throwing her to the ground as she stared up at him in shock. She rolled around uneasily and pulled up her shirt to see what he had seen. Her own eyes could hardly believe it, she hadn't noticed the bulge either until right then. In her mind she suddenly realized why she was always tired, why her whole body felt like one big bruise constantly, why she was sick all the time, and why food was only appealing sometimes.

~"I-I don't know," she breathed out, still in disbelief. Her hands poked her still relatively flat stomach like it was some sort of dead thing in need of disturbance. She didn't realize the unbridled rage boiling inside the Uchiha until he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up.

~"Sas…uke. What are you… doing?" She clawed at his hands in an effort to breathe, but to no avail. His grip was like iron and tightening with every second that passed.

~His blood red Sharingan eyes burned with fire and he held her higher, over his head. "You're going to kill that thing, am I clear?" He dropped her to let her speak and she coughed and wheezed wildly, flailing like a gutted fish much to Suigetsu's delight.

~"I can't do that!" She hissed at length, "I am a medic! I don't kill things, I fix them."

~"You're not going to carry that abomination!" He shrieked, fingers itching to throttle the life from her, but something held him back. Juugo's arm was on his shoulder, helping to calm the blood rage inside him.

~"Sakura! You _will_ kill that thing. I'm not giving you any other options!" He watched her instinctively wrap her hands around her stomach protectively. She wasn't sure why her mind screamed for her to protect the baby, but she listened to her inner self, nothing would harm this child if she could help it.

~"No," she growled.

~Sasuke lost it, he grabbed up her collar and flung her to the trail, no amount of Juugo's help was going to bring his fury down. It was far too late for that now, the demon within him needed sufficing and no amount of emotional attachment to the girl would deter him. He stalked over to Sakura and kicked her in the chest, unable to make contact with her abdomen. She shrieked and turned away, rolling from another attack before she even able to breathe.

~The Uchiha's speed had increased tenfold and he was again at her throat, holding her over the edge of the cliff, her legs dangling in mid air. Her maddening cries had no effect on him and he asked her again, "will you kill the thing or will I have to?" He drew out Kusanagi and aimed it for her belly, hearing her shriek again. Everything was all wrong, the swirling, black curse seal on his neck was churning and had grown into obsidian flames, covering almost all of his body.

~"Fine, you've made your choice," he moved as if to ring her through when her chakra suddenly exploded and threw him backwards into the mountain wall. His head smashed heard into a rock and suddenly things seemed less blood thirsty as the anger quelled itself back into the darker reaches of his mind, he was thinking clearer, the demon knocked unconscious. He saw Sakura starting to fall and the ensuing cry that followed.

~His mind snapped when he realized she would die if she took that plunge, but everything was moving in slow motion and he knew he couldn't reach her in time before she would have fallen too far for him to reach. He sprang to the cliff edge and screamed her name, his hand reaching out too late and she plummeted down the cliff side and into the clouds below…

* * *

Author's Note - **Sigh** I'm exhausted, but I'm really enjoying myself, this story is like my crack for the moment, I am not looking forward to finishing it. Don't worry that's a long time in coming. Have fun and do review please.


	15. Nature of the Beasts

Author's Note – I enjoy your guy's reviews, haha makes me giggle! Sorry it took me a few days longer to update, I haven't been myself lately, but now I feel better and should be fine to continue with my work haha.

**pirateKitten11893** – I love your reviews every time a new chapter is up, I giggle about them often. My hentai mind loves me too, LMFAO! And yes, Sasuke is a total lol

**Crazymel2008** – Don't worry, she's emo to set the story's mood, not for the story itself. You'll be happy with the story the further it progresses.

**Savagebeauty1981** – I'm a writing addict, both for my job, life, and career. When I get going on a story I can't stop. All my other stories have suffered for it, but I love what I do. Thank you.

**Rikakiwi** – You're right, the fucker is an idiot. I'd have left his ass in the dust if he were a real guy a long time ago.

**Dreamer** – Thank you so much your comment made me smile all happy like haha!

Now! On with the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…. Damn…

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**Chapter 15  
Nature of the Beasts**

_"A predatory animal runs on insticts,  
man can actually think.  
The only similarities between the two  
is the need to dominate another being."_

_~Lady A.R.R.O._

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**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

* * *

~He leaned over the edge and screamed at her as she fell, his hand reaching out yet only grabbing air. It took all of Juugo's strength to keep his leader from jumping over with the poor girl, holding him tightly and pinning his arms at their sides. This wasn't a time to continue with the rash decisions, he may have needed the Kunoichi, but his team needed him, without the Uchiha the team would fall apart, even if it was only Juugo and Suigetsu left.

~_"Let me go!"_ He was bellowing, squirming with all his strength to be free of his teammate's grasp, but it was all for nothing. The orange haired Shinobi's strength was too great. When he finally released the Taka leader the man crumbled to the ground, his whole body looked like a dejected corpse. He pounded his fist into the rock pathway and yelled out her name, almost praying she would answer, but nothing came. There was no reprieve for this, not this time. No forgiveness came for murder of lovers.

~He continued pounding his fist, over and over again until his knuckles were bleeding and a few of the bones gave way and crunched, but he felt no pain. The cold numbed his senses and his insides were screaming so loud his mind drowned out any physical feeling. He couldn't believe he actually killed her. He'd let that stupid demon from the curse mark overwhelm him again and take over. It was something he would have to live with for the rest of his life and he hated himself for it.

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~She watched him reach for her from the cliff side, but it was all ready to late, her body had been thrown too far out of reach and she fell for what seemed like forever. The immeasurable distance giving her enough time to think about everything, to see her life coming in flashing waves before her eyes. She could see her reeling thoughts pouring over important events, from the day she saw met Sasuke all alone that morning in the pouring rain, to when she became teamed with him. A tidal wave of emotions welled up inside her; anger, pain, regret, happiness, joy… and even love. She felt so much for the people that had come into her life and changed it for the better, most of all Naruto and still… Sasuke. He was an idiot. He'd made her cry more times then she could count. He hurt her, hit her, used her, abused her… but in the end, he still mattered so much it hurt, yet here she was falling to her death because of that same damn idiot…

~_"I don't want to die!"_ She screamed, flailing as she fell. Her eye tattoo suddenly glowed and pulsated, driving back her stinging tears and replacing her fear with an overwhelming need to sleep. The Kunoichi couldn't will away the exhaustion and it engulfed her mind whole, leaving her floating in the abysmal darkness of her mind, where the fringes of reality slowly melted away to reveal inner core of her unconsciousness.

~The world around her at first seemed only dark, an infinite abyss greeted the pinkette and it was as silent as the dead. But a strange light overhead blinked on like a hazy sun and before Haruno was a vast desert, void of life or end. Grains of dark gray sand warmed her naked feet, heated by the beaming rays of the eclipsed sky orb.

~Something called to her then, a low voice, seductive and inviting, drawing the woman forward. She made no clear thoughts as to her bare appearance and made her way through the void as the voice sang to her softly. After what seemed like an eternity of travel, the nin came to a floating prison, heavy metaled bars warding off trespassers hovered in midair. Only the bars were there and anything beyond it just seemed to haze off into more desert and sand.

~A pair of bright golden eyes hovered in the darkness, behind their cell front covered in ancient binding jutsu papers. The eyes blinked as Sakura drew closer, ninja staring at the demon and the demon staring back. No words were exchanged for a long time as the two ethereal entities sized each other up.

~"Who are you?" The young woman whispered, almost so lowly that it could've gone unnoticed, but the demon responded with a great smile, a dazzling set of sharp pointed fangs greeted Sakura.

~_"I, am Ganimaru_," cocking her head to the side Haruno got a better view of the speaker. She looked like a woman with pieces of random animals puzzle-pieced onto her body. Her legs and feet were those of a jaguar, the spots running up her form and dotting her skin lightly. She had hands in the shape of taloned claws, menacingly clenching and unclenching them as if to warn all who drew close that this demon was dangerous, and didn't care who she removed from existence. Her long lion's tail flicked with amusement behind her, waiting for the ninja to make the first move.

~"Are you the one in the scroll?"

_~"Ah, the child speaks the obvious. Yes, I am the demon inside the Living Scroll. Your soul has called to me and I have answered. What would you have me do?"_

~Sakura looked around. She couldn't remember why she was there, couldn't remember if she had in fact called for the demon of the scroll. Everything seemed to be a foggy blur and nothing made sense.

~"… I… I don't want… to… die?" A reel of memories streaked through her head, but they made no sense. There was a flash of light, a sword perhaps. Someone was yelling at her, threatening her, but no face came to mind. It was all a haze that bore holes through her body, made her heart cry out even though she couldn't remember anything before this desert world.

~Suddenly a heart beat resounded in her thoughts, as soft as the beating of a butterfly's wings and so tiny it could've just been her imagination. Unconsciously, Sakura's hand went to her belly and there was immediate recognition of the being that slept there. A baby. Her baby. It was hers and someone else's.

~Another wave of emotional pain struck her heart making her cry out. She couldn't understand why it hurt so much to remember her baby's sire. Sadness welled up inside her and tears crept down her cheeks and she reached up to touch the wetness.

_~Sasuke._ The dark haired Shinobi that had caused her so much grief in her life was beginning to take shape in her memories. He was just a nudging reminder in the beginning, first a young boy lying in the middle of a flooded street, to a young blossoming ninja discovering his remarkable talents. There was a blank after that, an empty hollowness that felt like lonely anguish. It felt like he had been gone for a long time.

~Another flash of a sword and then her vision was drenched in blood. So much blood and Sakura found herself screaming, clutching to her belly like the child was being ripped from her insides. _"Save the baby!"_ She screamed, not noticing the grin that broke out on Ganimaru's face.

~_"Then release me,"_ she cooed, staring down at the pathetic excuse for a Kunoichi before her, but something within her made her feel pity. Even if it was the human emotions she felt from her living vassel, the demon didn't care, _"take off the golden seal. Free me and I will save you both."_

~Sakura looked at the ominous seal, evil chakra oozed of it like a bad stench, almost like death. She reached her fingers forward slowly, hesitantly and grabbed the paper's corner. Her mind told her to leave it alone, screamed for her to see reason, but the need to keep her child alive overwhelmed her and there was a tearing sound as the seal floated to the ground.

"_Yes!"_ Ganimaru shrieked, a sudden explosion of powerful, old chakra wreaked havoc on her tiny confines, shattering the bars and blowing their dust across the sand. _"I'm finally free!" _She hissed and snatched up the quivering body of the medical nin.

~The world around them was melting away and again Sakura slept, curling herself into a tight ball to protect the tiny beating life within her. At that moment, she didn't care what happened next, so long as that heartbeat continued to pulse inside her, the world could've collapsed into nothing.

~Ganimaru took over consciousness, letting waves of her swirling chakra permeate through every pore. She clenched her fists and looked at the small gloved hands, _"this body will do."_ Laughing, she hissed loud as a pair of white feathered wings burst from the Kunoichi's back, drenched in blood, _"it'll do nicely."_

~She jetted through the air, soaring up the side of the snowy mountain and towards the familiar place of her birth near its peak. There she would begin the _ritual_, and then there would be havoc like the world hadn't seen in thousands of years.

Sasuke Uchiha Age: 19

~He kept a straight lipped facial expression as they readied their gear for the climb down, with their reason for climbing this godforsaken mountain now lying hundreds of feet below, they began their descent to gather up the scroll.

~Suigetsu amazingly had not spoken a word since Sakura had fallen, he didn't even smile when he heard a feminine scream of agony echoing up to their ears when she was out of sight.

~Juugo stuck next to his team leader, the concern evident on his normally placid expression. He kept wondering if Sasuke would snap and jump off the edge, whether the man would have admitted it or not, they all knew of the Taka leader's feelings for the pinkette slip of a girl.

~They hadn't made it more than a few hundred feet passed their deserted campsite when a shadow flicked across the corner of Sasuke's eyesight. He darted his head towards the clouds, but saw nothing, only the ominous raging of oncoming blizzard clouds, they would be in for a strong storm again.

"_You!_" A voice screeched and the ninjas scattered when an enormous fireball slammed into the mountain's cliffside, leaving masses of falling debris in its wake.

~The Uchiha blurred up falling rock chunks until he found solid ground, the remaining members of his group momentarily forgotten as he stared into the golden eyes of changed Sakura Haruno. Her hair floated about her frame as if in water, twirling and moving with snake like tendencies, but it was her once jade irises that drew all his attention. They were like molten gold, flashing nearly prehistoric knowledge of things best left to the tides of time and dust. An ancient evil swam in her irises and behest mountains of charms, oozing glamour from every orifice. Sasuke felt himself being pulled under a spell of enchantment where his mind fell away to wakeful dreams.

_~He noticed Sakura standing silently by an open bay window, a light breeze ruffling a few strands of shoulder length hair. She was beautiful, like she had always been, even with a few years age worn on her flushed cheeks, she was still as beautiful as the day he met her._

_~His thoughts didn't seem to be his own, they had softened with years of wisdom, but there was still that razor edged sharpness that hinted to his past of death and destruction. He was older now, yet still as lethal and deadly as he had been in his youth._

_~A voice called out to the woman softly. His voice. And she turned to face him at length, those beautiful green eyes pulling him farther into this dream. She smiled radiantly, reaching up to touch his smooth cheek, "the baby's moving," her whispery vocals told him and he smirked back, wrapping his arms around her belly to feel his child's movements._

_~They were strong kicks, beating against their confines, begging for release, but both parents knew it wasn't yet time. "How much longer?" He asked quietly, receiving another hard kick._

_~"Any day-"_

_~"Mom! Rem hit me!"_

_~"Jin, you should've blocked like father-"_

_~Two yelling boys came bursting through the closed door, used for a little bit of privacy, but when they saw their father their expressions changed and they went running for him, both screaming in unison, _"**Father**!"_They leapt into his less than expectant arms and nearly took out their mother in the process, although even pregnant she had the ninja skills of poised cat and stepped out of their path._

_~A fit of giggles came from her lips and Sasuke felt himself turning to look at his wife's happy face, her golden clan ring glittering on her left hand. For some reason that thought seemed to drown Sasuke in a world of worry, the inner him hadn't seen all his older outer counterpart had, hadn't been allowed to grow this level of attachment to the pinkette nin. It made him try to spring back, to attempt to jump out of his own mind._

_~Sakura knelt down beside her husband with slight effort, laughing at his predicament. He was weighted down by two hampering twin boys, allowing very little movement as they hugged their father until he would hug them back._

_~"I love you," she whispered softly and pulled his face to hers, planting a very gentle kiss on his lips. It left the man breathless and begging for more, but he couldn't move, everything felt restricted and held down. He tried to kiss her back, but he felt so tired, the very last vestiges of strength he had in him were falling away into exhaustion. _

"Sasuke, wake up!"_ A tiny voice screamed in his mind, yelling for him to see through this dream, _"**use your Sharingan**!"

_~Sasuke's eyes faded red with the last bits of effort that he could muster and saw before him the great demon holding him tight with invisible hands, her hungry lips stealing his chakra and abilities. He shoved the demon away and felt everything around him fading into blackness as the real world hazily came to fill its place._

~Sakura's possessed body fell back in surprise, her chakra barrier keeping both Juugo and Suigetsu out faltered for only a moment, but it was enough for the shark nin to leap on her fallen body and try to run her through. She blurred away like lightning and kicked Juugo from her weakened prey as the man tried to pull Sasuke out from her clutches.

~Suigetsu charged again, knocking the demon back and drawing first blood. He may not have liked Sasuke completely, but he wasn't about to allow this bitch take away their leader, not when these people were the only family he seemed to have. The need to protect that way of stable life for him consumed his soul. He had all ready lost his brother protecting their mission to join the _Seven Swordsmen of the Mist_, he wasn't about to allow Sasuke's death before the Shinobi had killed his own brother.

~Sakura shoved Suigetsu away, startling the water nin. Her demonic power allowed her techniques he had never known existed. He swung his Carving Knife in a large arc, but found her body blurred away and her chakra all but disappeared. A low chuckle came to his ears and he turned to see Sakura standing on the blade's end, an amused look marring her normally attractive features.

~"Do you want to die too?" Sakura asked, her arms limply across her chest as she held her elbows. "This one senses bad memories from the girl of you. I am here to protect her, so you must die." She opened her arms and two tiny balls of blue light, much like a miniature Chidori crackled at her fingertips.

~The shark gasped as she slowly touched the blade's end and darted up to the hilt, the power breaking apart his beloved sword. She touched his forehead and threw the nin back against a rock edge, effectively knocking him out.

~She turned toward Juugo and Sasuke, smirking when the orange haired ninja's eyes grew wide. He wasn't like the others, he hated hurting people and had never had any formal training aside from what Sasuke forced him to learn. There would be no way he could stand up against the demon unless he let go, and they both knew that.

~Sasuke grunted and tried to push Juugo away, but the man held on tight, "no," he started. "I won't let her kill you, Sasuke."

~Turning his head towards the much taller man's, he asked him why. To which Juugo replied, "I can't let you die... You're all I have left to remember Kimimaro."

~"How quaint," the demon spat and raced to the two men. She punched the Uchiha back and watched him roll precariously close to the edge, his body exhausted beyond reproach. He had almost been drained within inches of his life and Ganimaru growled angrily because of being disturbed.

~Juugo exhaled slowly, feeling raw power surging through his veins. It was familiar, though frightening, but he knew he had to release the inner rage within if he wanted to keep his comrades alive.

~Ganimaru watched as the floodgates of chakra were torn off from the inside of the man before her. It surprised her to say the least, she hadn't expected such power. Her smile caught even her off guard, she knew this battle would be a decent one, possibly border lining interesting.

~The man charged first, his transformation only half done, but his body continued to shift in the air and when his fist connected with Ganimaru's stolen face, he had reached his second stage of the cursed seal.

~Falling back a few yards, sputtering wildly, the demon sprang to her feet and touched her screaming jaw. It was broken and though all ready the healing power of her chakra was numbing the pain and knitting the bones together, she still growled in agony, feeling the owner of the possessed body shrieking. She smiled evilly and pushed Sakura's consciousness deeper into a corner, trying to bar her there to avoid distraction, but the girl was persistent and her body jerked slightly as the two beings fought to gain control of the form they shared.

~He watched in sickening fascination as the jaw he was sure he had broken under his attack, limply hung open, useless. But Ganimaru healed the damage and within moments her mouth closed and lips upturned into a smile, "you'll have to do better than that, boy."

~Juugo came at her when she sprang into the air, each throwing punches and kicks too fast for the naked eye to see. Their bodies blurred together and then apart, throwing any available jutsus they knew before charging back together and starting the pattern all over again. One body tossed shurikens, while the other made a few hand motions and a band of clones poofed beside them.

~Sasuke watched in muted fascination as the transformed Sound Ninja held his own against the much more powerful demon of the mist. They clashed like titans and snow kicked up with every attack and every defend. Their raging jutsus echoed loud down the mountain and just before the cold blanket of unconsciousness grabbed hold of him, he saw a shadowed figure coming down the mottled pathway.

~The hairs on the back of Ganimaru's neck stood on end. She spun around and came face to face with an old man that should have been dead centuries ago. His bald head shined in the low, clouded light of the sun, and was lined with wrinkles and liver spots apparent to his ancient age.

~"You should be dead!" She howled and pointed an almost frightened finger in the man's direction. He quietly stared back at her with sightless blue eyes that seemed to glare clear through her and into her soul.

~"Now, now, Ganimaru. It seems you've caused a ruckus." He walked a little closer, his white wood staff nearly blending in with the fallen snow and oozing saturated magicks of years gone by. There were a few silent moments, where only the wind blowing over the mountain could be heard, even Juugo had frozen in his tracks at the appearance of this sage. He felt himself feeling calmer, letting the demon side of himself fall away to sanity and clear minded thinking.

~"Get away!" Ganimaru hissed, but she was frozen to her spot as the man came in front of her and with kind eyes looked her over.

~"I see you've found a new body, demon. But I hear her crying out for release, I think it's time we let her come out to speak, don't you think?" He tapped the top of his staff to Sakura's forehead and the power violently shoved the ancient evil back into her cage and locked the bars before she could react.

~Sakura came screaming up from the depths of her mind and finally found the surface. Her legs buckled under her and she fell to the ground, hands unsteadily keeping her sitting. The baby within her was still alive, she was grateful for that, but she didn't know for how long. With her senses slowly coming back to her, the realization that Sasuke was still alive and Juugo remained in his demon state made her fear for both her life and the child's.

~The powerful man slowly walked towards Juugo as the boy crouched to his knees in a sign of animalistic submission. He whimpered as the staff tapped the top of his head and just as before, like with Ganimaru, Juugo's rage went silent and fell into the darkest reaches of his mind.

~"I am Kodai Jensu*****. As of late I seem to have been given the nickname Ko. You may address me as such," the sage said quietly, turning back to the medical nin. She was shakily climbing to her feet and faced him, immense relief cemented to her face. This man wouldn't hurt her and she knew that, he leaked kindness and intelligence, if anything he would scold her on her stupidity to for using Ganimaru's power without thought as to the dangers.

~He helped Juugo to his feet and it suddenly dawned on Sakura just how tall the man really was, he almost towered over Juugo's height, a full two heads higher than the nin. Both of the youngsters awed at Ko's size, but were pulled from their wonder as Suigetsu began to come to. He glanced over his whole body, touching his arms and legs making sure they were in fact still there. When he found himself intact, his eyes took in the destruction of his precious sword, shattered beyond repair and a rage boiled in him. He found Sakura's motionless form standing in front of Juugo and some nameless character, but he hardly cared, it had taken so much effort to retrieve the Decapitator and wasn't about the let its destruction go without consequences.

~Leaping to his feet, he darted to Sakura's back and went to punch her side, but Ko noticed the young shark nin and was at the pinkette's back before the connection could be made. The older man took his staff and pounded the ornate, balled top into his forehead and watched the boy reel back like he'd been burned.

~"What the fuck was that?" He rubbed his head and finally let his attention go to Ko's large form. "Uh… Never mind." His eyes downcast towards the ground and he went sluggishly to his broken weapon, touching the irreparable pieces with a strange longing that bespoke of a father losing his child. He picked up a few strips of twisted metal and would drop them, the tinkling sound they made only causing him more grief. If he had been able to cry, Sakura was sure he would be doing just that.

~"Your friend it seems is close to death. You should come with me," Ko made his way to the mountain side, leaving Juugo to pick up their leader and grab Suigetsu by the arm as he somberly teared up over the blade.

~Sakura watched as the four went a head of her and made their way to the path, before they disappeared she knelt down to the broken weapon, scooping up every single one of the pieces and depositing them into her pack gently, struggling to keep from hurting herself from the sharp shards. A masculine voice called for her to catch up and she raced away after them, before someone saw her…

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**Author's Note** – Hope you enjoyed. I really need to write more on my others stories, so if I'm late in coming with another chapter I apologize, I will always return I promise. I **NEVER **leave things unfinished. If you wish to see my other works, I'd enjoy your input, my newest work is another Sakura/Sasuke romance while in high school in the real world. All your favorite characters are there so it'll be fun. Hope you enjoy it, check it out tonight on my profile.

***Kodai Jensu** literally means in Japanese –Ancient Knowledge – (though there will be more background on Ko as the story progresses, I'll let you in on a secret, he is as old as Ganimaru, thusly his power not only rivals hers but in some cases exceeds it.) Fun, fun times haha.


	16. Ancient Scriptures

**Author's Note** – Yay! Chapter 16 I never thought it would go this far, hope you guys are enjoying reading it as much as I'm enjoying myself in writing it.

P.S. Sorry it took longer than normal to get this chapter out, had to finish a couple chapters in my book to be sent out for editing or I was going to lose my arm. Imagine for one second, my editor who resembles Kyoya Ootori from Ouran High School Host Club, except being white, and has the Shadow King's same evil demeanor when things don't go his way… x.x WAH! Someone save me from the evil heartless slave driver! **cries into my arm**

**Sakubunny** – you're silly and I love it, lol.

**Crazymel** – thank you for input, I'll see how the story lets me progress I may have a mapped out summary of things, but my writing is known for getting hair brained ideas and in most cases I can't control them, lol. But for you I'll try.

**Piratekitten1183** – Again, you're hilarious and I giggled so hard I had to find a tissue. Ganimaru is an ancient _thing_ so she thinks she's better than everyone else. Can't wait for you to see her siblings, lol.

**Gazettluvs** – Hehehehehe, that's for me to know haha!

**SakuraUchiha44530** – Awwwww! Thank you! T.T I have a fan

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**Chapter 16  
Ancient Scriptures**

_"Just because something is concidered old and valued,  
doesn't necessarily mean its words are true.  
There is always someone who embellishes the truth  
or leaves out key story points to hide something dark.  
Someone always thinks fiction is better than reality,  
it's why so many people go Atheist now-a-days."_

_~Lady A.R.R.O._

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 19**

* * *

~His eyes remained screwed shut, even as the world around him moved. All senses seemed in tune with his surroundings, all nary one. His sight. Ears heard an ancient man's tongue quietly helping to direct the Taka members and one medical nin through the harsh winds of Pearl Pass. The wind chilled him to the bone and he shivered even inside his fur lined coat, wishing he could just wake up and move on his own. He could tell Juugo's strength was waning from the constant switching of hands that held their leader in place, but still the Uchiha's body refused to allow him control.

~Juugo in his worry over his leader had asked multiple times of the pinkette to give some of her chakra to the fading member, fear edging his quiet, masculine voice, but Sakura refused. At first she had been blatantly angry and vehement about denying the Shinobi proper care, and even now continued leading the pack with Ko at the head of the group without an ounce of remorse for the Uchiha's dwindling condition. She still didn't spare a look back to the unconscious teammate hours later, waves of furious bubbling anger racked her body as she fought down the disgusted feelings towards the man. He'd tried to kill her and the baby he'd spewed into her, it wasn't her fault she was like this now. It was his and now she was going to pay for his mistake, but not before she let him so close to death he realized who had the power.

~Ko at long length seemed to find what his old, blind eyes could no longer see. His hand pointed to a rock face to which he brushed away the piling snow and revealed a hiding lever, "pull this, will you, dear?" The husky sound of his voice sent a strange thrilling sensation coursing up her spine that came to rest uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach, she wondered idly if her hormones were sending her mixed messages.

_~"He's still as powerful as he was that day."_ A voice said in the pinkette's mind, startling her. _"I know you can hear me, human. You feel what I feel. The power of him is intoxicating. I can smell it."_

~"Ignore the water witch, Haruno. She may be caged but she still has her wiles." Ko had leaned down next to the girl's ear and effectively shoved her frozen body into action, forcing her to grab the stone lever and yank it back. In the mean time, she shivered uncontrollably as every inch of her body pulsed with a need to possess Ko's strength, and when she found herself thinking these thoughts, she shoved them to the back burner, writing it off as one of Ganimaru's internal persuasions.

~The sound of grinding gears and moving earth made all the ninjas look as a piece of the cliff side shuddered and gave way, yielding to them a hidden passage that no one would have found otherwise. Inside the air tasted dank and musty, dripping with water, and echoing loud the smallest sound.

~"This is faster," Ko began, "and a far more agreeable path to these old bones." To this the demon within Sakura snorted and mumbled something unintelligible, leaving the Kunoichi to wonder when she would be allowed her own thoughts back without the intrusion of outside forces from within. Ganimaru just chuckled at her running thoughts, but said nothing more, whether from exhaustion or annoyance, she was finally silent like she had been earlier.

~Ko rambled on about nonsense, mostly how he had been continuously bombarded over and over again these past few weeks by the strangest people, mostly those in need of enlightenment or seeking his endless volumes of knowledge, but one in particular seemed to have caught his attention. A young man who had braved the harrows of this treacherous mountain, trudged through the winter blizzards of blinding ice and snow, all to simply sit in the temple like some kind of forgotten mute taking in the sites of the simpler life. That and to eat Ko's food the man complained with distasteful disdain.

~The three following bodies and one unconscious nin listened in deafening silence, some small semblance of thoughts telling them they were headed towards the summit as the treacherous blackness lead them in an upward direction, but no one wishing to speak the farther into the abyss of cave darkness they went. Only the soft glow from strange green chakra filled lamps every few hundred feet illuminated the pitch blackness that swirled and crept all around them. An unnerving darkness filled with so many unknowns, although it didn't seem to infect Ko with its morbidity as he continued his one sided conversation with no one in particular, it affected the others and they unwittingly grouped together in tight formation behind the antique man.

~"Ah," he said finally, stopping at the base of a gigantic boulder, touching it's unusually smooth surface. Too smooth to be naturally formed and too large to be jumped or climbed. It's enormous expanse stretched on for hundreds of feet up, towards the darkness of the cave ceiling to high to see without light, and was so wide, no one could see where it started or ended.

~"We go up from here," the old monk said happily, eliciting a round of confused breaths through his tiny troupe of ninjas, they had no idea if the man was insane or stupid, although Suigetsu seemed to hint towards a borderline of both. He was rewarded with an elbow to the chest, causing some ruckus for a moment that died down as quickly as it had come.

~"Ko, I don't think we have the proper equipment to scale this," Sakura remarked cautiously, not wanting to offend their gracious guide. He merely smiled down at her and tapped the head of his staff to the rock's surface, a bright blue glow emitted from the contact and carved a strange symbol into the boulder face. All too quickly, the earth around them felt unstable and shook violently as the stone lowered itself into the ground and came to stop at their feet.

~Ko took the first steps and turned to show the wary others that it was fine and safe, but they held back for a few moments, as a pair of glowing pink eyes shown in the dark behind the man. They all took a strong defensive; Juugo moved Sasuke's body away from sight while his silver haired teammate drew out some kunai and took careful aim.

~"Master Kodai." The pink eyes called and drew the man's attention away from the startled nins, "I waited for your return."

~"Hmm, Mizukage, I thought you would have found your clarity and left by now," the monk tapped his staff on the ground a couple times and the tip of his holy stick lit up with a soft blue hued light, revealing to the frozen nins a rather short statured young man with dark silver hair and a piercing pair of rosette pink eyes that exuded hatred and disdain for everything they took in.

~The younger man crossed his arms over his chest and turned his gaze towards the unknown visitors, the female in particular, her hair caught his attention and he cocked his head to the side and lifted an eyebrow. "Why would a girl dye her hair such an annoying color?"

~"Excuse me? This _is_ my hair color, and if you haven't looked into a mirror since birth your eyes are the same color as my hair, you idiot!" Sakura watched as the man was taken slightly aback, he'd apparently never been spoken to in such a manner, especially not by a slip of a woman just barely taller than himself.

_~"He's… his power,"_ the tiny voice inside Sakura took note of the overwhelming chakra surging through the air that only the demon and herself seemed to feel. _"He's a Jinchuriki!"_ She awed over the absolute power he exuded without so much as a flit of effort, it clouded around him like a heavy fog and gave credence to his position. He was a Mist ninja of the highest kind, a leader of a village and a powerful one at that.

~Sakura felt the numbing waves of need rising in her throat as Ganimaru drooled over the chakra levels of the Mist nin. The demon wanted to feel his power coursing through her veins, making it her own. She didn't care how she got it, whether through deceit or absorption, she would have it.

~Ko took notice of the pinkette's sudden mood change, watching her grab her forearm tightly as if to keep her running thoughts under control, "we should head to the temple. I'm sure you wish to give that Shinobi some medical care and get yourselves some rest." He turned to his rosette eyed guest and led the way, "if you're going to remain here and continue eating my food, you should be the one to cook it tonight."

~There was a snippet of anger that crossed the Mist nin's face he was _never_ ordered to do anything, but as quickly as it had come it was washed away by placid monotony. He kept himself straight and emotionless, it was easier that way, no one could hurt him then. Not that they could hurt him now as he possessed a tailed beast lying in wait inside him, but they couldn't hurt him mentally, they couldn't take away his will or need to live and survive. He was an impenetrable force within himself only able to lay siege to his own insides when he saw fit, which was never.

~The temple rested in a small clove of surrounding mountain tops, and from a lookout point where they'd emerged from the cliff's edge, Sakura could see clouds a few hundred feet below them pouring out buckets of snow, but up here the air of thin and strikingly clear. She took a few seconds to catch her breath and climbed out of the hole leading into the darkness when a hand was offered to her, finding it surprising when it was attached to the mysterious man whose name still eluded her. He had neither offered it and Ko hadn't given it, all she knew of the young man was he was Mizukage, a huge position of power that forced Sakura to be careful around him. Mist ninjas were forced to do a disgustingly gruesome show of skill to become Genin, by murdering in cold blood, their teammates they had gone to the academy with. She had heard that they had in later years refrained from doing this ritual after only one student emerged victorious from their death island as the sole survivor, Zabuza Momochi. But it didn't mean that this guy hadn't done it himself, it didn't mean he wasn't dangerous, and she wasn't about to let her guard down even though the demon within her thrilled like some petted dog at the Mizukage's touch.

~Juugo carefully laid the dead-like Shinobi out on the nearest mat by the fire, ghosting over a pulse point to find it disturbingly weak and he turned to Sakura who watched from her brooding corner as Ko helped his assumed pupil prepare a simple stew meal, much to the younger man's hilarious inability.

~"I'm not helping the bastard!" She hissed, arms crossed over her chest, but still Juugo pleaded with his eyes. He could feel the remaining tidbits of chakra dwindling faster as the man's life-force struggled to retain a smoldering flame of its former glory.

~Ko looked up from the soupy broth, the smile melting from his features, "you know, young one. Letting a lover die because of a lover's spat makes for a guilty conscious later."

~Sakura leapt to her feet, mountains of boiling anger spewing from her lips, "I am not his fucking lover! He's a raping son of a bitch that left our village to rot for his own selfish desires and then he tried to kill me and this _thing_ he put in me!" After she was done, she clasped both hands to her mouth, unable to figure out how or why she'd just said all that, it was like the thinking part of her brain went out the window and was replaced with an action lever that constantly in the "on" position.

~Nodding quietly, the monk knew Ganimaru was behind the outburst, feeling the swirling chakra emanating from the pinkette's small body. Without the seal within her to hold the beast's personality back, she was just like the tailed beast Jinchuriki's, feeling their overwhelming presence like another body inside their own. The only difference was this demon's body had tendencies of taking over and drowning out the owner's unlike the tailed beasts who sat under lock and key like master and prisoner.

~"You know you don't have to forgive him. Just heal him."

~"He can burn," she returned visciously, but a hand touched her shoulder softly and she was spun around to look at Juugo's black coated chest. She looked up into his eyes and saw an expression of hurting sadness there, if there was rival to Naruto's puppy dog eyes, this was it and it made the pinkette furious because it worked.

~"Please…" Juugo started, hesitantly wrapping his arms around Sakura in a tight hug, startling her into a rigid, off guard stance. She didn't know what to think and the man continued, "My friend's soul is in him. I need him to keep me from going crazy…" The traces of truthful need plucked a chord in Sakura's heart and she grudgingly pushed the brute male nin off of her and stalked angrily to Sasuke's side, stomping as she went.

~She bent down beside the infuriating Shinobi and made a few hand signs, filling her fingers with a light green glow and bringing the energy to Sasuke's temples. The power slowly moved from the Kunoichi to her charge with skilled ease, no more effort than flicking away a small bug and when the medic was sure the man would be all right to heal on his own from there, she bolted to her feet and stifled the urge to kick him while he was down.

~"I'm tired," she muttered to Ko and sat down broodingly beside the Jinchuriki and the old man, smelling the delicious scents of dinner wafted to her hungry nose. The day's events had been trying to say the least and not only was she sure she was starving from the exertion, she could barely keep her eyes open.

~Juugo thanked Sakura from his standing position in the shadows, knowing she wouldn't acknowledge it if he voiced it and that suited him fine. He didn't like talking uselessly. For a long while, the man sat next to the mat Uchiha laid on, watching and waiting for his all powerful leader to awaken and give them their orders. It was surprising when Suigetsu came to lean against the closest wall to the Taka members, leaning his head into his chest as the waves of sad depression seemed to engulf the water nin. He was mourning the loss of a blade that, for all intensive purposes, was as human as any ninja. The grudging hatred of having left it like some discarded garbage in the snow on a mountain pass ate away at him and he glared sorrowfully at the Kunoichi's back. If it hadn't been for her and that thing inside of her, he would still have him blade and be no worse for the wear.

~Sasuke floated amidst the darkness of his unfathomable mind's depths, a calm feeling of peace was washing over him and drawing him into a deep slumber he didn't want to wake up from, but there was an insistent thought in the back of his mind telling him he wasn't allowed to die yet. And though he wished with all his might to push the persistent reminder away and force himself to give into the depths, it refused to give him quarter. Finally in a rage, Sasuke's eyes bolted open and he hissed at the annoyance, but only found himself staring at the stone ceiling of an area he'd never seen before. He turned his head sluggishly and glared at the sleeping Juugo sitting beside him, sweeping his gaze around his surroundings to take it everything. Suigetsu sat brooding witling away on some poor piece of white wood, forming it into the shape of his broken Decapitator, leading Sasuke to see how the blade wasn't strapped to the man's back, he made a note to ask what happened later.

~Sakura sat talking animatedly to a white hair man, grizzled by time and over flowing with unmasked chakra that felt warm and inviting despite the enormity of the powered up levels. She had a stranger to her left that didn't say anything and had such a stiffened, straight backed appearance it almost looked painful. His silver hair glimmered softly in the firelight and it was almost like the man felt eyes upon him and he turned to give the laid down Shinobi a harsh glance, before leaning towards Sakura and whispering about their awakened guest.

~She looked at him with an indifferent expression and turned back to the old man, her cold brush off sent a bolt of hot, angry confusion down his spine, but he ignored it and tried slowly to sit up. At first the movement was shaky, forcing him to remember how he'd gotten into this position and slow realization seeped into his mind as he recalled the demon inside Sakura being freed, how she tried to drain him completely of chakra, feeling his abilities being caressed and copied from his mind to another's. He briefly wondered if his techniques had been stolen, though calmed his mind when the comforting feeling of his Sharingan and sparking Chidori remained like small living things within himself.

~Uchiha climbed precariously to his feet, a hand touched his elbow and Juugo came into view, with a worried expression plastered his face, but the darker Shinobi shook his head and the reassuring presence lifted their appendage.

~He walked towards the fire, smelling the inviting scent of something cooking and sensed the instant apprehension from two of the three people sitting near the flame's warmth. He could only guess as to who the tense ones were as they all seemed to mask their discomfort well.

~The ancient one was drinking tea from a tattered gray cup, speaking quietly about nonsense things that Sakura seemed perfectly happy to oblige to in conversation, while the silent man remained in a tense, straight backed position, arm crossed over his chest. Giving each other a rather placid look, both the Uchiha and the mystery man sent each other morbid death expressions through the air that Sakura found unsettling.

~Ko grinned warmly to the new face sitting by the fire and felt the need to introduce himself, "I am Kodai. I've been told you're Sasuke."

~Without uttering a word, the Uchiha nodded and glanced momentarily at Sakura, seeing her close her eyes and place a hand unwittingly to her stomach. It nearly made him flinch when he remembered what was hiding there, underneath the guarding muscle and tissue. He wanted to rip it out of her and let it die on the floor before it could take root in her mind as something human, but he knew that she would likely fight until it killed her to keep the abomination alive. Something in him wondered why Sakura would have allowed something like that to grow in her, finally coming to the conclusion she was just an idiot and brushed it off. If she wanted to keep the _thing_ he wasn't going to stop her, but he wasn't going to let it influence his life either. He didn't want children, would never want children, and wouldn't accept any he fathered.

~"You should kill it," the man ignored Ko, giving all his attention to Sakura. She opened her eyes and glared lethally at Taka's leader, struggling to ignore him as the voice inside her head wanted to scream vicious obscenities.

~"I should've let you die," she whispered quietly, her hand dropping from her still flat stomach. It seemed the man beside her was interested in the conversation and just barely caught the meaning between the two.

~"It would appear to me that you need some manners in how to treat women."

~Both Sakura and Sasuke turned to the pinkette eyed man, one with a surprised expression crossing her features as the other merely snorted his disdain.

~"I don't need to show fangirls 'manners'. All they're good for is consensual sex and-" Sakura bolted to her feet and sent Sasuke a death glare, her hand itching over her poison pouch, debating on blinding him or murdering him slowly, although both ideas seemed great to her, Ko's reassuring hand kept her rage under control.

~"We haven't spoken about the Live Scrolls yet have we, Ms. Haruno?" He pulled her gently back to her seat and flashed his pupil a quieting stare, hoping the man would understand and luckily he did and remained implicit.

~"Do you know how old Ganimaru is, Sakura?" He smiled when she shook her head and described how little information she really knew on the subject of ancient demons.

~A tiny chuckle escaped Ko's wrinkled lips, "I don't suspect the younger generations to remember the stories. They have been stuffed away to the backs of only the oldest libraries in hopes of forgetting these monsters stronger and older than even the demons of the Ten-Tail."

~"How is that possible?" Sakura awed, "how can anything be stronger then the Ten-Tail? I thought he was the first demonic being."

~Ko nodded and sighed heavily, wishing for once that he wouldn't have to be the only one to tell his story, but his siblings in arms were not only scattered to the four winds, they were in hiding and he was the only known Sealing Sage left still inhabiting his temple. "He was… and he wasn't. You only hear one story of the Sage of the Six Paths, simply because no one wishes to tell more. Or they don't remember. Every now and again, there are hints that someone ancient knows more, but really. In the end of it all, only the Seals of the Living Scrolls know what really happened. We were there when it came about and we'll be there when it ends."

~Sakura felt herself being sucked into the story, feeling a strange bit of contentedness washing over her like a warm blanket as Ganimaru hugged herself closer within her dark prison confines, and listened intently to her own history. She was vain enough to enjoy it, but intelligent enough to listen when it was spoken.

~"The Sage of Six Paths was merely another man, just like those of us who sealed the monsters."

~"I thought he was the original Shinobi? He created ninjitsu and moon, how can there have been more if he created all-"

~"Who do you think created him? Who created the Ten-Tail?" Sakura was silent after Ko explained, allowing him to finish.

~"There were four of them in the beginning, ageless creatures that aided in the creation of the planet. Each subjugated to their own element, fire, earth, water, and wind. Each helping to form the planet in their own way." He sighed deeply, remembering the awe-inspiring strength and fantastic beauty, but knew the double edged-sword of their personalities. With great power came unimaginable strife as each being vied against each other for dominance. "Itahimi was in the shape of gigantic phoenix, guarding the realm of death. He took life away when it was their time and scorched the land to give it the ability to bear fruit, die, and create more life. Horachikyu was the creator of all things living and breathing. He resembled a rock creature draped in trees, flowers, and vines, all pulsing with their own life. A surprisingly wise and gentle giant compared to his siblings, he spoke more reason then the rest, but had a temper to match his brother's, Itahimi." More memories flashed across the man's eyes, small nearly insignificant remembrances he had tried to bury, but they refused to consign to the grave. "Kazechi was the most… turbulent of his siblings," the joke in Ko's mind made him snicker as he continued. "He was a great tornado that made a grand mess of things at times, finding his enjoyment in stirring up the prosperity the others attempted to make with his storms, gails, electric showers, and the like, all in misplaced fun. He was the youngest and acted as such, I never thought I'd see the day when a woman would be his seal. As the mover of continents it was assumed he was the most powerful, but I don't think any one of the demons held much power over the others, there was always one stronger than them and always one weaker. No one was out matched or under classed."

_~"Tell them about me all ready, you old crotch!_" Ganimaru's voice slipped past Sakura's lips and she clasped her hands to her mouth, "I'm so sorry, Master Ko!"

~The sage laughed shortly, pounding his staff's bottom on the stony floor, the sound echoing through the temple and beyond, "Ganimaru if you feel the insatiable need to interrupt, why don't you tell the story?" When the demon was silent, Ko nodded with a grin and continued. "I thought as much… Ganimaru, as you can tell is a female. The original feminine being and as such lived up to her_ Harpie_ name. She is cold, relentless, beautiful, vengeful, and deceptive. Like the siren, calling out to males and dragging them down into her depths. She is water, controlling tsunamis, the aquatic life, everything to do with it all and as an added, she can absorb powers through a kiss. She seduced her brothers into mating with her to gain their powers and all that came out of it was the great evil Ten-Tail you all have heard about."

~Ganimaru gave a snort, she didn't care that Sakura was slightly disgusted by this little bit of information and added to her own amusement, "_if you think about it, human. You are in fact related to every other human being in the world. In the beginning there was only one man and one woman created and they had to continuously procreate with each other and their offspring to continue the line."_ The demon smiled when Sakura looked up at Sasuke and briefly imagined the Shinobi as her brother and got a revolting feeling in her gut.

~"…and the Ten-Tail was born." Ko noticed Sakura's confused expression and repeated. "The brothers, now daunted with a powerful son that rivaled their own strength, fought tirelessly to find a way to contain the offspring's evil as they couldn't destroy another God-like being that was a piece of each of them. So they turned to Horachikyu and his silent wise ways to reveal a decision. And the Sage was born. He was given pieces of their strength and given only one mission… to train and become as strong as a God. All the while more humans were created, some half demon, the abominations of Ganimaru and man and some from the Ten-Tail and women. Even the others resorted to the animalistic pleasures of the flesh and created powerful lower beings as well. But war broke out and left bloody, mangled scars on the world and out of this war rose the Sage who had learned such wisdom and such power that no man after him could ever rival him. He stood up to the Ten-Tail and took in its soul, becoming the first Jinchuriki. He then took and imprisoned the demon's physical body in a giant stone prison and hurled into the sky, effectively creating the moon. With the Sage's mission complete he fell ill and weak and knowing that with his death the spirit would be released once again."

~"He used his remaining strength to divide the tails into nine and gave them to strong souls who could contain them, finding nine newborn children and imprisoned the demons within their tiny bodies. His sons were supposed to watch over the infants forced to carry the monsters and to help keep the world in peace, naming his youngest son as his successor upon his death, but the older grew infuriatingly jealous by this and began a war that killed the Sage…" The man sighed heavily, "Senju and Uchiha fought for years, tearing the land into smaller regions that only knew war and pain. All the while, the gods continued to wreak havoc on the land, destroying and creating as they saw fit, causing an enormous uproar among the people. To quell the cries, the two sons found four sacrificial humans that would use their bodies and souls to seal the gods away into living scrolls. Then the sons tricked the creators of all and bound them to four golden canisters, Hibibiju, Itonanami, Kihakuki, Kokakori… My love, my life, my soul, my being. We seals each loved the gods in our own ways and more so than our own lives, it's why we gave up ourselves to seal them away to protect everyone else. And from that day on we have been their jailers, living like half dead immortals throughout the ages without rest or peace."

~Juugo and Suigetsu had come to sit closer to the fire during the story and it had gone nearly unnoticed by Sakura until Ko momentarily went silent.

~"You mentioned there was only 'four in the beginning'," Sakura recalled, the story resting heavily on her shoulders as Ganimaru wiggled restlessly within her mind's dark corners.

~"Yes, some time ago the Sky country tried to create a god for war and all they managed to cook up was a mutated _thing_ they called Shisora. She could affect gravity and had strange jutsus that could only be described as_ other worldly_. One attack in particular forced giant rocks from the heavens to fall upon the earth and destroy all in her path. She called it Meteorite Shower. It was a devastating blow that created Hoshigakure over two hundred years ago. For now she sleeps, mindless and naïve, hopefully to never awaken again."

~The infinite darkness outside was drawing closer, throwing dancing shadows across the temple's walls in the sparking and crackling firelight. It was time for dinner and Ko carefully poured all of his guests something to warm their bellies, ensuring Sakura an extra portion for herself and the growing child. For some off reason, she noticed his insistent need to be a fathering figure, showing flashes of a warm emotional bond trying to form around them two the longer she was around him.

~They had all fallen into mute silence, even Suigetsu said nothing as he swallowed hearty mouthfuls of vegetable and meat stew, but Sakura couldn't stand it any longer and turned to face Ko, lightly tapping him on the elbow. "Master Ko. Is there any way to remove Ganimaru without killing me?"

~His old gaze remained transfixed on the tempestuous flames, rising and falling as the wood charred and burned. A trace of sadness crossed his gaze and he finally tore his attention away and towards the pinkette Kunoichi. "You are so young. And yet your eyes tell a story of abysmal sadness and torturous pain cause by another. Something inside me wishes I could strip you of all your hurts and take them as my own, I am sure I could easily handle them, but one becomes a greater person by the experiences and hurts of the past. They surpass themselves to become better or worse than the person they once were and they grow as a human to become what they will be… No, Haruno. There is no way to remove Ganimaru from you unless you die or she releases you willingly-"

~_"And I refuse to let the whore go!"_ Ganimaru cackled, the sound echoing loudly in Sakura's mind and causing the medical nin to flinch noticeably. She looked up to Sasuke and saw him continuing to eat his meal without any visible reaction to Ko's words. There was uneasy silence between everyone, including the demonic soul as Sakura rose to her feet and placed her untouched bowl on the ground and made a hasty exit to the outside world.

~"So I have to deal with you," she whispered to no one in particular, glancing up into the sky and marveling over the billions of tiny, twinkling stars peering down so clearly in this mountain area. In Konoha there were just as beautiful, but it seemed that there were hazier then here, almost like an obscured fog filmed the cities she'd been in and witnessed this site before, but here it was sheer perfection. The pristine, almost crisp view of the heavenly bodies took her breath away and a shooting star surged across the sky just to the left of her vision.

~"I used to watch them every night from my village. They look a little like this there." The pink eyed man drew close, his hands hanging deftly at his sides. He didn't seem as intimidating now without the gaze of others on him.

~"Where do you come from?" She asked without looking down.

~"The Village of the Bloody Mist."

~A tiny half-hearted chuckle escaped the medical nin's lips. A soft sound that sounded like low whisper, "I should've known. Well, you know my name. Won't you tell me yours?"

~The man smiled and a tiny spike wave of chakra flitted through Sakura's mind, like the inward demon of his soul was also smiling, "I'm the Mizukage of this land. I am also the Jinchuriki of the three tailed beast Kyodaigame*. And my dead parents used to call me Yagura…"

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**Author's Note** – I hope this chapter was good enough for the wait! I'm sorry again like I said earlier been working on my book and my editor, AKA The Shadow King is a frightening guy and thusly I do what he tells me. WAH!

**Kyodaigame*** - I know this is likely NOT the 3 tails name, but I can't seem to find his name anywhere and the only ones we do seem to know is Shukaku's and Kyuubi's names, and if you look at their Japanese names, both Kyuubi and Shukaku are involved in it and thusly, I assumed the Japanese name for the rest of the tailed demons was in their name as well. Hope you won't mind this change in storyline.


	17. The Beasts Within

Author's Note - **hurriedly types before my editor returns** Sorry he's trying to kill me…took me to a convention for writer's hence the slow update... X.x plz don't kill me...

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…. Sadness!

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**Chapter 17**  
**The Demons Inside**

_"Most women are mothering types  
and they struggle to fix everyone else's problems,  
leaving their own to grow and take over."_

_~Lady A.R.R.O._

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**Naruto Uzumaki Age: 20**

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~The blond tore off through the thick snow and sleet, followed on heel by his two mission teammates. They didn't know for how long they'd been traveling anymore and even though Kiba Inuzuka and Sai hadn't yet begun complaining, they had right to, they hadn't. Pain and hunger were all encompassing to them, but the Jinchuriki was mindlessly driven. He knew they were close and wasn't about to allow for rest or food breaks when their mission objective was so close, almost within his grasp. They hadn't gotten this close since the get go and with the knowledge that an old teammate was dragging around the medical nin likely without her permission, it only drove Naruto into a state of confused panic. He knew something, more so than Sakura had been told and that intelligence forced him to race through the cutting, freezing ice blades towards his destination.

_~Tsunade looked up at the blond from her paperwork, his agape mouth told her he was in shock. _

_~"Are you positive, Hokage?" He asked almost wondering if there was a small chance that the older woman was joking, though he knew better than to assume that. She was insanely serious when it came to grave situations gravitating around her pupils, only more so when it was Sakura Haruno. There was never a joking tone when it came to the pinkette, she was no laughing matter anymore, and the tenser things were, the more likely Naruto was to take everything into retrospect._

_~"Form a three man team, pick who you think will be useful. This may be a battle where you'll need strength over brains. For Sasuke to have gotten this careless and allow Mist to follow them and gather intel for us, means he either has something that makes him not care, or he's mindlessly driven."_

_~Naruto nodded, reaching out and taking the mission scroll. He wasn't sure what to think about everything, when he was called in here to speak to Tsunade, there had been assumptions over looking for the missing medical nin. They knew she hadn't been kidnapped, a passerby trader after the Bamboo Festival had seen the woman leaving with a traveling pack, but for her to be gone this long meant she was going rouge or something bad had happened, and the male severely doubted the former._

_~He turned to leave, for once in his life thinking too hard to form any kind of cheerful retort to his leader's comments, going for the door rather than the window, another odd occurrence. He enjoyed pissing Tsunade off too much to go through the door unless something was weighing heavily on his mind.  
_

_~"Naruto," Tsunade called before he could leave, waiting for him to face her, "bring her back, and if you can… bring_ him_ back as well."_

_~There was an uncertain smile playing at the corners of his lips as he tried to reassure the woman, but he couldn't even fool himself very well, things were looking deathly grave. Sakura was literally playing with fire, by going to Sasuke, how ever it happened. She was in grave danger. Things had been getting more and more lethal in the passed years since the Shinobi had departed. The ninjas sent out to scout for him were turning up dead with little _love notes_ attached, warning the leaf village not to search for him, and then added with the reports of the Uchiha _and_ the Akatsuki looking into forbidden scrolls supposedly old by even ancestor's times, it all gave way into something horribly bad coming. The likely hood was that whatever fate had in store for the village and the ninjas playing a role in the grand scheming play that Kami had going, it wasn't good, and someone was bound to get hurt... maybe even dead. _

_~ "I will, Hokage. Don't worry." A small smile played at the corners of his lips, but neither Hokage or Jinchuriki were convinced.  
_

_~He'd chosen Sai because frankly, even though the young man was annoying and had nearly no people skills, he had abilities that Sasuke hadn't seen before and would have no chance of countering while other plans were being drawn up. Kiba was picked for his and Akamaru's nose, and two fighters that could battle in tandem was better than one strong one. The decision had been easy and though others had wanted to join the group, mainly Lee and Ino, Tsunade had forbade any more people other than the three she was willing to part with. It was an unspoken worry that if the three she'd sent out didn't return, that they knew to prepare the village for an earth shattering, all out battle likely to involve multiple alliances and countless deaths._

~"Naruto!" Kiba yelled from the back, trying to keep up, but even with Akamaru they both were falling behind. He looked to Sai who was as expressionless as ever, although he looked just as exhausted. "Naruto, _stop!_ We can't keep up this pace!" The sounds of the brewing storm almost drowned out his voice.

~The blond didn't heed their words and shoved more chakra into his legs, nothing was going to stop him from getting to Sakura. She was in trouble, his gut told him so and he needed to be there to protect her no matter what. Years ago, after Sasuke had left, she'd changed into someone he didn't know, right before his eyes and there had been nothing he could do to stop it. Since then, he'd vowed to help bring back that sweet, always happily smiling little girl he'd met at the beginning of their ninja training. He would bring back the woman he fell in love with whether she loved him or not.

_~"Naruto!"_ Sai's voice sliced through the wind and ice, causing the group's driven leader to briefly pause and give attention.

~"We can't stop guys, we have to-"

~"Sasuke hasn't killed her yet, we would have heard about it if he had. He'll keep her alive until we get there. And if you haven't noticed, moron, we're taking the only pathway up the mountain, they won't get passed us."

~Naruto growled out, but he knew that the annoying, emotionless art nin was right, though he would chew off his own arm before he'd admit it out loud. They hadn't heard anything except that Sasuke was on the prowl for something and dragging the pinkette with him. Well, he didn't know if she was going against her will or not, but he highly doubted someone as smart or as vengeful as the medical nin would go along so lightly with someone who'd ripped out her insides and left her to metaphorically bleed to death on a cold night so long ago.

~"Fine," Uzumaki hissed, turning his gaze towards the mountain's summit. They still had a long ways to go and sitting here gawking at it wasn't going to help them get to the top any faster. He wanted to be on his way, although looking at his teammates he knew that there wouldn't be any more traveling for a few hours while they caught their breath and something to eat.

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~The medical nin awoke with the rising bile in her throat and her eyes sprang open instantly, throwing her body into motion. She bolted down a darkened hallway in search of the bathroom, not really having any idea where she was going, but knowing she had to make it before- it was too late, Sakura's knees buckled and she let loose a barrage of sickly yellow bitterness that burned its way up her throat and wracked her body with shuddering quivers.

~She held herself unsteadily with two shaking arms as she continued to heave and gag with nothing left in her gut. It was a wonder she didn't fall forward into the vile mess, but she fought furiously to keep herself just barely steady and when the waves of plaguing stomach venom finally ceased their rampant ragings within her, she scooted her weak body over to the nearest wall to catch whatever remainder of her breath she had left.

~"I see the morning isn't treating you particularly well," a vaguely familiar voice tore through the mornings biting chill and Sakura opened her eyes, her gaze falling on the pink colored orbs she remembered belonging to a certain Mist ninja.

~"No. I don't think it is," she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, expecting the ninja to be disgusted by her weakness, but to her surprise he drew closer.

~"It happens to lots of pregnant women," he informed as if speaking to himself, clearly unaware of his companion's area of expertise.

~She nodded knowingly and let a hand fall to her still flat belly, "I'm a medical nin. I know."

~Eyes searched her over quizzically, almost undressing her soul, "then you'll forgive me for asking why you haven't made any tonics for your condition?" There were countless remedies the girl could try and she knew most of them, but also knew that those horrible "tonics" as he put them, usually came in dolled up vials mostly composed of plant toxins and animals insides not really meant for human consumption. No, according to her master and sensei, Sakura was to let women run their course during pregnancy and try tea and mint sprigs to help alleviate some symptoms, although Sakura didn't particularly like mint and wasn't in the mood for tea at the moment.

~"Wive's tales," she muttered, finding strength in her legs to finally stand, "I'll go find something to clean it up."

~An amused expression came over his face then and drew Sakura's attention. Instead of voicing his thoughts, an annoyance for the most part of the Shinobi's part, he made a quick few hand motions and pointed towards the mess, a hard stream of water shooting from his finger tips to wash the filth down the hall and outside off a backdrop.

~"T-thank you," she gushed, using the wall to stand up to her full height, "I don't really expect someone from the Mist to be this…"

~"I have my reasons for showing someone like yourself compassion." His eye twitched as he spoke, as if fighting some heaving battle inside his mind, something the Kunoichi had no knowledge of and an odd expression came over Yagura. He felt his inner demon sweetly soothing him into a mind numbing lull while the demon attempted to take over, and the Mist nin couldn't help but allow the masculine siren's call to shut him into unconsciousness.

~Sakura exhaled hard and gave him an aggravated look, "someone like myself?"

~"An unmarried woman having a child, it doesn't happen often in your village, does it?" He was right, it didn't and in some cases the women who weren't properly married weren't exceptionally liked. She was in a precarious situation and they both knew it, only he seemed to be getting a sense of smug satisfaction over it and that made her angry. He was grinning unnaturally as he spoke.

~"No, it does not."

~Yagura took a few steps forward, testing her reactions and when she was still he drew closer, coming to her side, "in Bloody Mist, women don't marry often. Men and women chose each other for the skills and strength each other possesses." He put an arm next to her head, finally gaining a startled reaction out of her, it pleased him to no end. Her eyes of the darkest forest green bore into his hazy, watered down twin ruby colored eyes with uncertainty, wondering what he would do next to her, but she remained graciously quiet to allow him to speak.

~"Shinobis come of age when they're old enough to know what their dick is for and they spend their entire lives training to become strong, hoping someone stronger doesn't come along and kill them. While Kunoichis come of age when they spend their first time in the Red Moon tent, they too train until they are strong and when they feel they have found a ninja strong enough to bare them a child, they mate with him and give him one."

~Sakura swallowed hard, prickling feelings of uncomfortableness crept up her spine. This wasn't a subject she had any principle interest in and yet he was telling it to her completely unprovoked. She had no idea what his reason for bringing it up was or to what point he was trying to make.

~"There's no love involved?" She asked, her voice almost a quiet squeak.

~"Love is the human mind's ultimate weakness, inevitably a lie we tell ourselves to doll up animalistic instincts. All women of every village are attracted to the strongest and most beautiful men, they tell themselves it's love when really it's their body wishing a union to form spawn of a particular lot. We Mist realize this and embrace it." He drew closer if it was possible and touched his nose to her neck, smelling her strong, intoxicating scent. The god, restricted to the pinkette's body was just underneath the surface and both the Jinchuriki and tailed beast knew it, finding it's thrilling scent, mixed with Sakura's own distinctly feminine human smell, an aphrodisiac he wasn't willing to part with.

~"W-why are you telling me this?" She was staring straight ahead, fighting not to make eye contact. Inside she could feel Ganimaru purring with pleasure as she felt the overwhelming presence of Kyodaigame so close, threatening to take over her body if she didn't get control soon. She vaguely wondered if the strange buzzing sound that had been her constant companion the night before had something to do with the sudden titillating interest in her now.

~"I feel your strength, Kunoichi. I want to touch it… smell it… taste it," to reaffirm his point he stuck out his tongue and licked up her neck to the corner of her jaw line, chuckling when she tensed and shuddered involuntarily.

~"You feel Ganimaru," she hissed through clenched teeth, moving like she was going to pull away and bolt, but Yagura snatched both her wrists and held her tightly to the wall.

~"No," he breathed, voice husky with wanton need Sakura knew all too well, "I sense your healing powers, I want it for my own. I want it bred into a child," he clashed his hips into hers and listened excitedly when she cried out startled.

~"I'm all ready pregnant," she was whispering almost too low for him to hear and saying this to him gave her a tiny bit of confidence that he would understand and back off.

~"I'll tear it out and give you mine." Her confidence was gone and replaced with a spine tingling shot of adrenaline, moving one hand from her wrist to her belly. He traced absent-minded circles over the clothed flesh, continuing to breath in her scent and press his masculine reaction to her lower feminine regions.

_~"I think we should heed his warning, human. He seems very serious about his threat,"_ Ganimaru actually seemed happy to be offered such thing from a Jinchuriki.

~_"Shut up!" _Sakura shrieked inside her mind, _"I'm not some baby machine!"_

~"_But I am,_" the bird siren cackled and rippled a few warm bits of tantalizing energy towards the insanely aroused human, both Kunoichi and goddess watching his hissing reaction._  
_

~"Get off me," she warned growling, he was only an inch or two shorter then herself, but she knew better than to assume he was weak because of it. Even if he was the weakest Shinobi ever birthed, which she knew he wasn't even remotely close to it, having a tailed beast within him gave him powers and abilities beyond what she alone could muster up. She would need Ganimaru, but she wasn't about to call on the god's help if she could avoid it, that was a trap waiting to happen and she didn't want to have to inconvenience Master Kodai again. She just hoped Yagura wouldn't call her bluff.

~He paused momentarily in his almost loving administerings on her belly and rose his gaze to hers, "you're tempered like a double sided sword, I'm sure I'll enjoy being pricked by it once or twice so long as I get to take my lumps of flesh in return." His hands moved too quick for her to have seen or felt, once second they were at her belly and wrist, the next they were entangled in her hair, yanking her down and sending waves of pain coursing through her body.

~Sakura's cry echoed through the temple's walls, waking its resident sleepers harshly as they searched for the source of the sound. Only Sasuke, it seemed, knew the one who had violently woken him from a deep slumber and went blurring down the hallways to find her before whatever was hurting her went to far.

~The pink eyed Mist Mizukage was tearing her shirt away, keeping his eyes locked on the center of his attention, her stomach where beneath hide an abomination he was going to do away with. His hands moved deftly from the now exposed valley between her breasts to the tender, tense flesh of her lower abdomen. He took in eyefuls of her beautifully sculpted body and praised her makers for designing her so stunningly beautiful. Her hair was a nice touch too, if his spawn could have offspring with eyes and hair colors that matched with endless bounds of strength like his and the precise healing chakra Sakura possessed, they would be formidable ninjas he could be proud of.

~He felt his demon hazing over his mind further, completely blocking off the human side of him, driving him forward even if the moral part of himself was slowly squeezed lifeless until the deed could be done. It wouldn't take long, only a few well placed jutsu moves and he could remove the unborn thing before she knew it and implant his own seed and no one would be the wiser.

~Kyodaigame was thrilled to be allowed to take over for once, his ancient aura saturated the air and formed a force field around them made of water, disallowing anyone to disturb them while he took his pleasure.

~"Please!" She cried out, helplessly pushing away his hand. In her position she couldn't even attempt to fight back, he wasn't sitting over her in a way to allow for a quick kick or punch, and his speed before was incredible, there was no way to match it. "Don't!"

~Yagura's body leaned forward and planted a kissed on her forehead, "be calm. It won't hurt, I promise." He came back up smiling and for the first time, Sakura noticed his sharp fangs, much like Suigetsu's, lining his mouth like some kind of insane piranha.

~She felt the rising fear so close to the surface she could cry, and twisting angrily in his grasp she struggled for a second, sensing hopelessness overtaking her.

~_"Sasuke!"_ She bellowed out and something flashed by the barrier around them, too fast to see clearly, and then Yagura was thrown across the large hall and into a wall, the resounding cracking crash brought everyone to attention as the attacker and victim came into view when the dust settled.

~"Naruto?" Sakura murmured and turned onto her side, clutching the gaping shirt she held tightly to herself to prevent indecency. She looked up when someone's hands drew her up close to a chest and she saw Kiba hauling her to her feet and shielding her with his body.

~"Take this," the dog familiar threw her his own shirt and kept his gaze away as she wiggled into it. Akamaru growled angrily beside them, guarding both master and friend with his life if need be, but from the looks of it Naruto had it covered. The blond was beating the Mizukage to a pulp a few yards away, blurring in from all angles and tearing into Yagura unmoving body intermittently without a chance of stopping. He would be damned if anyone was going to hurt Sakura, he would kill himself before he let someone do that while he was around.

~Naruto attacked from the front, grabbing the silver haired man's head and ramming his knee into Yagura's face. Blood sprayed from the obvious broken nose and his head was thrown back as his whole body was flung like a rag doll down the aisle way, rolling a few feet before coming to a stop just before the door outside.

~A new group had just come stumbling in and Naruto caught sight of Sasuke, both Shinobis glaring down at each other with a certain level of contempt and the blond lifted a finger eye level with the ebony head, "I'm coming after you next," he snarled and blurred back to Yagura to continue his brutal assault.

~It took the members of Taka a few moments to figure out what was going on, but as they surveyed the scene before them, they realized a few things; three ninjas from the Hidden Leaf Village were here, Sakura was dressed in someone else's clothes and her own shirt was lying in tatters on the floor, and Naruto had a blood rage swirling around him that was clearly caused by Kyuubi. They were startled when at length, the energy levels finally died down and they saw the Mizukage motionless on the dirt ground outside in the temple's gardens and a seething Jinchuriki slowly making his way back in towards the pinkette.

~"Did he hurt you?" The blond asked surreptitiously, drawing close to her ear so as to hear her reply in the private of their close distance.

~"No," she mouthed and shook her head, feeling tears suddenly welling up in her eyes. This big idiot had come looking for her the thought choking her. He cared so much and she was this unfeeling clout that only took what she wanted from him and left him to hang. The amount of dedication he had towards he made her cry, the clear crystalline liquid slipping out from underneath her thick eyelashes before she could stop them.

~"I'm sorry, Naruto. I'm so sorry!" She hugged him almost violently, needing his reassuring touch there to keep her from falling apart and he even now didn't disappoint her, wrapping his own strong limbs around her tiny body, pulling her head into his shoulder. He shushed away her tears and kissed the top of her head, whispering how she was going to be safe and how he wasn't going to leave her now.

~"Oi, shit for brains!" Suigetsu yelled, "leave the boss' bitch alone. Get off her!"

~Naruto tensed at the words and turned his gaze towards the speaker, his irises still slit with Kyuubi's power coursing in his veins, "what… did… you… call… her?" The energy swirled around them again and Kiba with his faithful companion felt it necessary to retreat back to where Sai was still standing since this whole ordeal had begun, ominous auras pouring off the blond in waves were clouding his nose and making him wince.

~The black haired Shinobi drew himself forward, "Dobe, get your hands off of her. Disgusting creatures like you and that Jinchuriki out there have no business touching things that have been claimed." He didn't know what forced a lightning streak of jealousy to streak through his mind, but he knew if he didn't act soon he was going to explode. If he had gotten here just moments before the damn Dobe, he'd have been the one to tear the Mist nin apart and protect the pinkette, but the blond always did have the worst and the best timing possible.

~"Take me home," Sakura requested, trying to sniff away her tears and Naruto smiling nodded at her.

~"Of course. We'll go home and everything will be all right."

~"Dobe, did you hear me the first time?" He was growing more infuriated by the second, watching Naruto touching the woman he'd taken, the one that he possessed… "_the one I loved_." His mind tensed suddenly, there was no way he could've have possibly thought that. He didn't love anyone, least of all an annoying pink haired Kunoichi with entirely too much energy and a stalking nature. She was a good fuck, nothing more and never would be, he was just feeling lust from his lack of sex. He would deal with his feelings accordingly when the time apprised itself.

~Naruto turned towards his ex-teammate, still clutching the medical nin, he pointed eye level with the slightly older ninja and kept an even tone, "we used to be friends, Sasuke. We aren't now, but by Kami I'll do what I promised Sakura and drag you back home if I have to. Dead or alive."

~"No," the only female nin prattled, "please, just take me home. I want to go with you!" She sounded desperate, pleading with everything inside her for the blond to realize how dire the situation was becoming. He didn't need to know why she felt the compulsion to be whisked away, and frankly she didn't care. She needed to be in Konoha, in its protective walls and away from this Shinobi who would only hurt her.

~"I'm not done with you, Sakura. You still have what I want," the Uchiha was growing more and more aggravated by the minute.

~"You heard Master Kodai! Ganimaru is stuck in me unless she willingly lets me go and she's not going to do that," she saw Naruto's confused expression, but pushed it aside, she'd explain later when things weren't so hectic and out of place.

~"I'll rip it out of your cold dead fingers then," he made like he was going for Kusanagi, causing a stir of commotion among the Leaf Ninjas. Sakura was shoved to Kiba, while Sai went for a scroll to use as a defense, what they weren't expecting was the all out battle that was suddenly going to unfurl over a woman that held so much regard in a set of pale, liquid blue eyes, while in the set of black irises a dark shade of obsidian she seemed nothing more than a pawn in his chess game, to be used and left when her need had run out. She like the toy two boys wanted to lay with at the same time, pulling in both directions... If they kept it up she was going to snap.

~Everything seemed to shift in slow motion and all Sakura could do was watch. Naruto in his fury attacked first, charging for his dark counterpart, uncaring about the raised weapon as long as he was tall. Their movements were so fast they looked like tiny wave ripples in the air, colliding together on one side of the hallway, only to blur to the other as their assaults become more violent and lethal, each getting in their own sets of wounds, droplets of blood sprayed the room from their gashes and injuries.

~Kiba charged forward to the taller, orange haired sound ninja, tackling him through a stone wall that crumbled under their combined weight and power. Akamaru yipped excitedly and charged after his master, unsure how long he was going to be able to hold out while Kiba whaled on his victim senselessly.

~She couldn't take it anymore, Sai and Suigetsu were all ready doing their jutsus and tearing a good portion of the temple apart with their battle, leaving her on the stone floor alone and helpless.

_~"I'm always like this,"_ she told herself, _"I'm always playing the sad, pathetic princess when I wasn't trained to be like this. Dammit! I'm a Kunoichi, an Anbu medical nin Kunoichi. I know toxins that could kill seamlessly in seconds, potions that can heal those poisons, and here I am sitting mindlessly without any kind of plan."_ She scolded herself for not knowing what to do, for not being strong like her two teammates. It didn't matter if she was stronger than nearly all of the ninja back home, she just wasn't as strong as her two most important friends.

~She went to rise to her feet, determined to figure out something, even though she wasn't sure what she could possibly do to make anything any easier on the situation. Her back used the wall for support, slightly aware that the ninjas were tearing this temple apart before he very eyes, she wondered vaguely in the back of her mind what Master Kodai would do and then she realized she had no idea where the man even was. Strange for a very ancient man with incredibly ancient powers and intuitions to not be brought running towards all the commotion even if he was slightly handicapped.

_~"He's going to have a coronery when he sees what's happened to his home,"_ Sakura paused briefly, mentally smacking herself when she remembered he was blind, _"he's still going to have a coronary."_

~In a blur, she threw her body into motion and dodged underneath an ink dragon Sai had called forth, skidding around a corner and taking only the slightest glance outside and she noticed suddenly that Yagura's body was gone. The thought barely registered in her mind as other things immediately took its place, but she made sure to be on her guard, out of everything going on the last thing she needed was to let her guard down and be attacked while everyone was busy.

~"Master Kodai!" She shouted, making it back to the common area not a moment later, but found everything like the other ninjas had left it in, disheveled and missing one ancient monk. Her eyes darted around, looking frantically for any clue as to the man's whereabouts, though nothing seemed to pop out, the man had just disappeared.

~A crash tore through the area and Naruto's body was flung through the newly created wreckage and against another wall, narrowly missing the medical nin. She squeaked and took note of Sasuke climbing over the rubble and glancing at her briefly, but didn't seem to give her another thought as he blurred to the blond and picked him up by the collar.

~"I think it's time you learned your place, Naruto," Sasuke murmured, lifting him high enough with one arm to touch the tip of his blade to the Jinchuriki's chest.

~"No!" Sakura cried and grabbed for Sasuke's elbow, wrestling him back, but only succeeding in making the dark Shinobi mad. He dropped the younger boy and glared at her furiously, "dammit! You annoying, bitch! If you had just listened…" His voice started to warp slightly and his pupils dilated for an instant. He fell inexplicably silent, touching his head his free hand and rubbing his left eye like he was in pain. His curse mark was glowing slightly and pulsing with a strange heat all its own.

~"If you had just listened…" Sakura could sense the pain now, almost like a tangible thing in the air, ready to tear apart Sasuke from the inside. She could feel his chakra surging, levels rising and falling like a heartbeat and within her as Ganimaru became more and more restless. The god hadn't uttered a word since the whole battle began, keeping her sick comments to herself about Naruto and his arrival, claiming he not only smelled good, but probably tasted good in the most vulgarized way possible.

_~"He's going to transform_," Ganimaru hissed from within, not afraid, but seething with warning as she struggled to gain some semblance of control over the body she now inhabited, though Sakura fended off her attacks with a vengeance.

~Eyes moved to the still motionless Naruto, hearing him groan in pain. He would be useless to her if Sasuke turned his boiling up rage on her.

~A loud snarl of pain drew Sakura's attention back to her angry jailer, eyes growing to the size of plates as Sasuke's body trembled and skin bubbled. Things were struggling to break to the surface, viciously tearing at him from inside to come forth and make themselves known.

~_"What is it!"_ Sakura cried to the god, but the being couldn't answer, she had no idea either and finally succeeded and forcing the body of the pinkette to move to a safe distance. Just in enough time to avoid spiraling chakra blasts from ripping through her tender flesh as Sasuke's body was engulfed in light and blinded everyone within a breadth's distance.

~"Sakura," a voice sing-songed, close enough to breathe on her cheek as the woman fought to find her vision and she froze. "Are you ready to play?" A fist smashed into her side, catapulting the young medical nin across the room and into a wall. She didn't even have time to block herself from the impact and laid on the floor dazed for a brief few moments to catch her shattered bearings. When she got enough mind set control to clamber to her feet, she rubbed her eyes and looked over at the blurred image of a dark skinned being coming towards her. Moments passed by as the image became clearer, thrusting Sakura into a strange reality as she struggled to figure out what was going on. Before her stood something decidedly not normal Sasuke, with dark ashen skin the shade of charcoal and hair like midnight, came towards her. There was no way that this had been the leader of Taka only minutes ago, but Ganimaru knew otherwise and let out a burst of chakra to push her body's owner out of the taloned monster's way when he grappled for her.

~_"Pay attention, human! He's not going to play nice, now get your damn head on straight and fight him,"_ the urgency in the god's voice moved the pinkette into action, commanding attention of every fiber in her body to the highest alert.

~"Sakura, I'm hurt you run from me. Come here, lover, I won't bite… much," he laughed shortly and glanced around momentarily for his forgotten sword, finding it amidst the piling rubble and dusting if off on his dirty pants.

~"Leave me alone!" She shrieked and leaped through the hole caused by Naruto's clumsy body, catching a glimpse of the orange jump suited ninja just before he was out of sight and she was sprinting down the hallway to keep her attacker from giving the unconscious boy anymore unwanted attention.

~Sasuke chuckled softly, he enjoyed this kind of chase and so long as it was the pinkette offering to be the prey, he knew he would have some fun. Blurring forward, he cut off her clumsy exit, rewarded with a pleasing, startled cry that she tried to mask as a gasp, but failed miserably. At first they froze and looked at each other, his amused glare causing her to tighten the leaping muscle in her frightened jaw.

"Stop it, Sasuke. Let everyone go, you heard Master Kodai, there's three other scrolls you can choose from, just let me go." She showed a tiny smidgen of bravery in pleading with the demonic Uchiha, but his own monster inside had taken over his mind and was driven for a set few very basic, animalistic needs, one of which was the hunger for blood and he would have it before the fight was over.

~"No," he said calmly, a smile dancing at the corners of his mouth as he raced forward ready to make the first blow.

~Sakura easily countered it and smashed her elbow into the changed Shinobi's cheek, throwing him aside and drawing back a few feet. His smile grew bigger when his toy began fighting back, he wanted a good fight and with a god inside her he knew she would offer one. He jetted to her again, ready to made contact with his fist, but blurred away as she took up a defensive stance to block him, appearing behind her and planting his sandaled foot squarely into her lower back. There was a high pitched wail that left her lips as she fell and rolled, though swiftly gained her footing again and reached down in her weapon's pack to pull out two kunai.

~She crossed her wrists in defense, ready for anything he could throw at her, looking lethal with her narrowed emerald eyes and deadly sharp blades that glittered in the morning sun pouring through a nearby window.

~Sasuke aimed his sword and charged a head, clashing with her weapons and feeling the resulting clang rumble in his chest, knowing she felt the force of their energies too. They sprang apart and came at each other again, sparks flying. When he took his free hand and made a swipe for her with his claws, finding a small patch of naked flesh, he raked his nails across it to causing four perfect, bleeding gashes. She cried out against the pain, but made no effort to lower her guard. This wasn't about living or dying, she knew he wouldn't kill her just yet, though knocking her around until she senselessly listened wasn't out of the question. It was all about obedience and both parties knew neither one of them was particularly good at being obedient.

~"Give up, Sakura. You're still annoyingly weak," he took pleasure in her offended growl, raising his sword to parry off an angry blow from a ninja star.

~"Yet, you still feel the need to fuck the annoyingly weak, you bastard!" She flashed out a fury of infuriated kicks, raining down with some of her famous super human strength. One kick landed and threw Sasuke skidding back, irritatingly still standing.

~"But you like it. You enjoy being fucked by me, you pathetic fan girl." He hit a nerve, always hitting those horribly hurting nerves within his ex-teammate that forced her into a bloody rage that needed payback and though she became insatiably strong with each degrading word, her inability to think made her an easy target to figure out. Her next move wouldn't be anything he couldn't counter and it was only a matter of time before she knew it too.

~The pinkette made an angry cry that rang out throughout the entire temple, crashing forward with her one remaining kunai in hand and her poisoned short sword in the other. It dripped lethally with some kind of sinew degrading venom that fell across the stone earth and raise tiny clusters of mini mushroom clouds and smoke no bigger than a pebble. He knew if she stabbed him with it, death would be painful and slow, although he was sure he could take a few slices before the potent got to him, the trick was to not let her hit him.

~Sakura came barreling forward, sword parrying his own and the burning acid splashed on his bare chest, burning a few scarring droplets into his flesh that he hardly noticed and went to punch away her swiftly coming kunai. With her one hand disarmed he grabbed for her throat, snatching it finally and shoving her into the hall's wall with paralyzing force. Her body caused a deep indent that cracked like crystal glass and continued to spider out from behind her.

~She gasped for air, still tightly clasping her prized sword, unwilling to part with it even as Sasuke drew his impossibly sharp nails down her arm, slicing the skin open and leaving behind large, gaping wounds. When he made it to her wrist, he snatched it tightly, shaking it gently as first, seeing if she would just let it go, but when no such luck was found, he slammed it into the stone and heard the bones crunch underneath. Instantly, he was rewarded when her blade went clattering to the ground and waves of sorrowful, agonizing tears sprang to her eyes. She sobbed when he aimed the blade at her belly, his Sharingan showing through the all ready glowing, blood red eyes. He avoided what delicate organs and thick blood vessels he could and aimed directly for the center of his attention, the tightly compacted chakra slowly pulsing with life inside her womb.

~"Sasuke," she begged, "please. Please don't," her voice cracked, but held no bars on him and he growled at her angrily, pressing the blade's tip into her gut just below the surface. She squealed out in pain, a hand reaching to his arm and holding it tight, struggling to push him back, though it did her no good.

~"It can't live," he said coldly, "It'll grow up and kill just like all the Uchiha offspring do. It'll kill to gain power and I won't have any more death on my hands, none that I don't all ready deserve." A flash of something Sakura couldn't quite comprehend flashed across his eyes then, a memory maybe, something hurtful and sad. "I can't let you give birth to something that will kill _you_."

~Sakura remembered the rumors back in the beginning, saw the anguish in the youngest Uchiha's yes when she found him in the middle of the pouring rain in the deserted street after his brother had murdered his family. He was reliving it all again. She was pregnant and he was remembering the oldest Uchiha child murdering his family, his mother, his aunts and uncles, his father… he was imagining the downfall again of the Uchihas and this time ending with his own death. So she thought, and though it might have been a little selfish for him to be afraid of his own demise, his fear was rationally placed in some aspects. He didn't want to have another child go through what he was going through and refused to remake another Itachi.

~"They'll come for you," he murmured, "_he'll_ come for you, whether you want him to or not, he'll tear you open and kill the baby anyway and then kill you." He drew uncomfortably close to Sakura's ear, feeling his jumbled insides moving a mile a minute, "I refuse to let any man take your life but me. I will kill anyone who tries to hurt you. You are _mine_."

~His sword inched a little deeper into her gut and Sakura screamed, more tears carving pathways down her cheeks. She was fighting to keep consciousness from the lack of air and anguish caused by Sasuke's brutal attack, but Ganimaru remained still and quiet within her, absorbing the words and the thoughts clashing around in Sakura's mind.

"_Do something!"_ Sakura pleaded with the god, but she turned her head away and sniffed haughtily. The power this man possessed was unlike anything she'd seen before, not so powerful it was overwhelming, but so sickeningly manmade and warped that she didn't even want to lash out to touch it. Its energy lapped at her inner being and begged to be let inside, to spread like a plaguing disease and overtake the god from her core.

~"Sasuke! Put her down!" Naruto had finally come to the gallant rescue, sporting a darkening black eye and a massive, bleeding head wound that covered one half his face and severely lowered his sight, but the shifting chakra of the Kyuubi was breaking free. His barely open black eye was a blazing red color, slit in the pupil while his feral claws and fangs menacingly aching for blood.

~He let loose a barrage of carefully aimed power blasts with a swift hand motion and leaped for his prey, taking the startled nin in his grasp, only to throw him down the hall and through the wall into the light of outside. Much more wall crashing and the temple was bound to collapse, Sakura numbly wondered, in her sickening haze, just how incensed Master Kodai would be when he found his home in ruin. She laughed shortly, clutching her punctured belly, holding in the blood pouring out as she fought to heal it with her precise chakra. Master Kodai was probably going to kill them all, then none of this would mean anything, none of her fighting would have meant a damn thing. Everything was suddenly horrifyingly hilarious to her.

~Kyuubi hissed all around his master, the forboding shadowy outline of the tailed beast was slowly coming into a tangible shape and forcing Sasuke to press his hand. He knew if Naruto completely let go of his sanity that this entire mountain would likely be leveled without a second thought, not only would they all be dead, but so would his obsessive revenge to kill his brother. He needed to kill him, not only to avenge his family, but to prove to himself that his endless hatred could have an end and he could die in some peace.

~Sasuke dodged as Naruto charged, his claws extended, receiving a kick to the face as the possessed nin flew passed. The amount of chakra surging through the blond's body effectively fractured the Uchiha's jaw and sent him sprawling into a garden, uprooting a batch of thorny rose bushes that clawed and bit into his hardened hide, drawing only a minimal amount of blood, but leaving him no less exasperated. He jumped to his feet and dodged another thrown attack, taking the hit to his chest rather than his face, the blooming pain encompassing his jaw bone had made his eyes water and clouded his vision if only slightly with his Sharinan.

~"Bastard!" Naruto screeched to the sky, wanting with his whole being to just rip the taunting figure from existence. He hardly cared at the moment that Sasuke used to be a close teammate and friend, as close to him as a brother might have been, but that all passed when he tried to hurt Sakura. She meant more to him than his own life and he was about to prove it now as he fought for the dominant power between them. For years Sasuke was always one step a head of him, always the popular one, always surrounded by people and friends it seemed. It didn't matter that the asshole didn't want them or that he didn't deserve them. Sasuke was that self-centered, egotistical jerk that all the girls melted over, leaving him the proverbial dunce, almost on the same level as Lee, when all he ever wanted was just the one girl who made his heart race whenever he saw her.

~"_I loved her first!_" The bellow tore through the field and he disappeared, blurring so quickly to Sasuke's front the older ninja froze, stunned. "All I ever wanted was her!" He slammed a first into the Uchiha's gut, "she made everything worth living," another blow with his knee folded Naruto's adversary in half. "I would have moved hell and high water for her to notice me!" He brought down his elbow into the back of Sasuke's head, driving the Shinobi deep into the ground.

~"But all she wanted-" he flicked the unconscious man into the air and readied a chakra filled foot, "-was_ you!_" The connecting leg to Sasuke's side rocked the whole temple and Naruto's victim flew into the mountain's side, an avalanche of snow coursing down the opposite side of the impact. That would have been the end of the battle had Kyuubi not taken over complete control, testing his reaches by struggling to completely take over. The demon pressed his boundaries and felt no bars on his birdcage, delving ahead and taking control over his prison.

~_"Yes! Yes!" _Kyuubi shrieked, racing towards the newly fallen foe, making ready to give the final attack. He raised a glowing red arm and brought it down on Sasuke's throat, not an inch away from contact when his body was thrust away and nearly smothered by a strong, insanely heavy aura.

~Kyuubi snarled angrily and darted his slit attention towards a blue glowing figure rising from the ground. There was instant recognition from red eyes to blue, the nine tailed beast to the three tailed. They had respect for each other only as far as they could throw one another, and though that depended on who was doing the throwing, in their terms of trust, both hated the other's existence.

~_"Ah, Kyo,"_ the fox said slyly, his voice sneaky and ready for anything.

~_"Kyuubi,"_ the three tail warbled, like a raging tsunami wave of water.

~They both regarded each other carefully, two almost brotherly powers whose auras reached out and took a taste of the other's and planned their next move wisely. When neither moved, attentions drifted if only a second to get a better view on the battleground, now torn to ruin from the earlier war of nins.

~"Naruto, we have to get out of here!" Kiba came bolting through a nearby arch way, Akamaru thrown over one shoulder looking almost dead, if it hadn't been for the occasional haggard breath onlookers would've thought the animal gone. "The orange haired freak is crazy!" He snarled, freezing when he felt the foreboding evil of the tailed beasts before him. Moments passed by where no one said a word and the demons in ninja form debated on their earlier quarrel of a battle, but tossed it aside when Juugo slowly traipsed through the doorway Kiba had just come from. He drug a very motionless Sai with him by the leg, his art pack limply scooting with his body behind him. It was unknown whether the Shinobi was alive or dead and by the tattooed curse mark engulfing the sound nin's body and look of murderous pleasure pouring from his eyes, they bet on dead.

~"Who should I break next?" Juugo asked happily, dropping Sai at length and giving his full attention to the scene before him; two tailed beasts and his fallen leader. His eyes kept wandering to Sasuke, mind slowly turning as realization hit him that the dark haired man was dead. "Kimimaro?" He breathed out, reaching for him, arm not quite long enough.

~"_KIMIMARO!"_ The ensuing bellow shook the mountain, raining down chunks of rock and snow. He came to Sasuke's side and fell to his knees, pulling the man's head into his lap and stroking along his temple.

~"What have you all done to my home?" A new voice cut into the tension like a saw blade and everyone turned to a chest heaving Sakura and a white haired man with hazy white, blue eyes.

~The tailed beasts felt the ancient power seeping all around them and were quieted until they calmly retreated back into their prisons without complaint, leaving behind two exhausted and unconscious ninjas tumbling to the earth.

~Kodai left Sakura's side and hovered over to Juugo's side, raising a hand to the boy's shoulder in a calming manner, "he's still there, young one. Let your anger go, quiet yourself." The curse marks running rampant along the nin's body slowly retreated and fell back into silence, releasing their maddening hold on him. He gasped softly, arms falling limp at his sides and he drew his gaze up to the pinkette leaning over her fallen companion that he vaguely remembered trying to kill.

~"Sai," Sakura murmured, touching his chest lightly and fighting to find his chakra lines, but they were dull and faded. "Wake up," she growled, pushing her green energy into his veins and feeling the almost nonexistent flutter of a heartbeat, like a hummingbird's beating wings.

~Slowly at first, the art nin's eyes quivered and came open, blinking up at the pinkette with tears streaking down her face, "ugh, Ugly. I'd hate to have to wake up to your face everyday."

~Sakura laughed, rubbing the tears from her eyes, "you asshole. You almost died and you have enough energy to make fun of me."

~He gave his normally fake smile and nodded, "I'll always have enough energy to make fun of your face, even though it almost makes fun of itself without me here." A hard punch in the arm made him wince, but he was glad for a short time that Sakura was there to pull him back from the foggy darkness he'd felt himself falling into.

~"Round them up, Sakura. It appears as if we'll need to make dinner and a cot for three more bodies. Hope you don't mind the company," Master Kodai muttered, turning towards his ruined temple and grumbled angrily, leaving the medical nin and a barely awake Juugo to move the motionless bodies that were almost as good as corpses. It would take them awhile and Sakura was sure she would be just as exhausted as the rest of them before the day was over, but at her friends were alive... them and the little one that grew inside her... They were all safe for now...

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** Author's Note** - Sorry, I know the tail end of this one sucked, but I've been writing for 12 hours and I'm exhausted and need some sleep. I'll try to be on tomorrow for another chapter it's supposed to be my vacation days off from my editor, so I'll write some more. Lots of love and review ty!


	18. Returning Home

Author's Note – See, I told you all… and P.S…. forgive me for this chapter… you'll see why…

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Disclaimer: No, no Naruto to claim as my own.

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**Chapter 18**  
**Returning Home**

_"Before you start bringing your Shinobi home in bodybags  
I suggest you start thinking about the families  
those men and women have waiting at home.  
Maybe then you'll stop using them as your shield."_

_~Lady A.R.R.O_

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**Name: ? Age: ?**

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~"Did you feel that? That energy?" The shadowed specter stood atop his fingered perch and looked towards the stony entrance as he spoke to his comrades in arms.

~"It was powerful," the blond stated, playing with his clay figure and morphing it into a small animal.

~The dark haired, red eyed soldier pulled his sugegasa further down his face to hide his uninterested expression, he was too busy thinking about Orochimaru's death. Remains in the Cave of Echos had caused a huge dent in the man's plans and now he had to find someone else to do his dirty work and find another Living Scroll before any of the others caught onto what he was doing.

~"Uchiha."

~Itachi looked up and removed his hat respectfully, "yes, master?"

~"What do you think it was?"

~"Jinchur-"

~"Tobi is a good boy!" An orange mask came screaming from the darkness and Tobi, with his one visible eye halted at the base of the other's perch. "Tobi has found where a tailed beast is he has!"

~"Obito!" The dark shadow commanded attention and everyone within earshot froze, "silence yourself."

~The masked man could be heard making a sniffling sound as he plopped himself onto the ground and crossed his arms over his chest childishly, muttering under his breath, "Tobi is a good boy."

~"I think it was a Jinchuriki, possibly two," Itachi continued on.

~"So why are you and the rest of you still standing here when you should be out gathering me a Jinchuriki? You haven't even caught one yet, the lot of you are pathetically useless," the shadow raged on, causing most everyone to shudder, "leave! And don't come back until you've caught me a Jinchuriki!" All the walls around them shook and the ninjas instantly were shoved into action, farting for the entrance before some kind of godly wrath was incurred.

~When they were all gone, only one of the soldiers remaining behind, the shadow's chosen one, did the man speak, "and the chess game begins."

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~She solemnly followed Naruto down the busy streets of Konoha, feet sluggishly dragging her towards the one thing she didn't want to have to deal with right now. Tsunade. A one word whirlwind that could pick her up, chomp her down, and spit her out, all without having said a thing and still leaving enough room to chew her out for her recklessness and sheer girlish stupidity.

~"I'm tired," she quietly complained, the first words she'd spoken in almost two weeks. No one had pressed her for details into why she'd stayed, or been kept by Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto didn't want to pry anymore than was necessary. He felt something sickening oozing off her pores in waves, like the days she would fall into depression and had spent her lonely nights cutting open her flesh to appease the voices rotting her mind from the inside out.

~"We'll make it quick, Sakura. It's only a little bit more," Naruto reassured, reaching out and wrapping an arm over her shoulder, drawing her close into a friendly hug that she didn't reciprocate, but he knew she wouldn't, things were so jumbled around in her mind that she had been distant with everyone and almost afraid of everything.

~She sighed heavily, hand unconsciously going to her stomach. No one knew yet, just the members of Taka and they were left so far behind that it hardly mattered now. What did was the relief washing over her when the stone faces of the Hokage Mountain came into view, offering her silent solace to her troubled mind. Things were inescapably difficult now, with a god inside her, a baby on the way, and the father ready to take everything she held precious to her, everything was a huge wad of mixed feelings and jumbled emotions.

~Master Kodai, along with the abnormally silent Mizukage Yagura followed behind, catching a few peculiar stares from the villagers, but they continued on about their business, ignoring the Mist head plates they wore. So long as ninjas were escorting them, it seemed fine enough to go on about life and no one seemed to cause any unneeded trouble. At least no one did until they all reached Tsunade's office, the building coming into view and as they drew inexplicably closer.

~A maddening influx of nervous emotions flew through the pinkette, but she said nothing, stifling it down as best she could. She didn't want to meet her sensei right now, things were too complicated and screwed up in her mind, everything just needed to stop moving for a minute so she could think clearly. There was a brief second where she debated making a break for it and locking herself in her apartment, but she doubted anyone would just leave her in there undisturbed and with how angry the Hokage was going to be, Sakura didn't want to have to be replacing her door any time soon from having it pounded down.

~_"I don't know what to do, what to say,"_ she told herself, looking up at the gray clouds. It was going to rain soon, making the day dreary and colorless.

~Ganimaru had remained oddly quiet through the month long excursion home, watching the girl leave the black haired Shinobi sleeping with a potion in his system to prevent him from using chakra for a few weeks to give them a head start. The god felt smugly glad to be leaving behind the ninja that did her human prison such emotional harm, although she scoffed heavily at the very mortal emotions she was feeling through the girl and it was irritating her. In all her eons of life and countless human victims taken as slaves to her will, Sakura was the first to beat her siren's call down to tolerable levels and keep from going crazy. A mild form of respect was beginning to mold in the god's heart, but she'd be damned before she admitted it out loud to anyone, let alone the girl.

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XxXxXxXxXxXx

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~"What the hell did you think you were going to accomplish, Sakura Haruno!" The woman was steaming mad, angrier still when she didn't say a work back in her own defense, continuing on with her all ready hour long tirade about the carelessness of her idiot pupil. Scattered around the room were the three leaf Shinobis that had come to Sakura's aid and the two new surprising characters thrown into the mix; an ancient monk of legend and the Mizukage of the Mist, both standing here in the Slug Queen's office. Tsunade was so fuming mad at the abruptness of all this bombarding information that she was rubbing her throbbing temples as she screamed, shaking the tacky office on his axis.

~"You could have been killed or injured…You could have gotten your friends killed or injured." She paused in thought and hissed out, slamming her fists on her desk, "you're a female ninja, you could've been raped by rogues-"

~"Shut up, Hokage," Sakura blurted out suddenly, her hair covering her face and teary eyed expression. Everyone froze and looked to the pinkette, feeling Tsunade's unbridled anger licking them in rippling waves.

~"What… did… you say?" She asked haltingly, hoping to have only misheard the Kunoichi wrong.

~Sakura lifted her head and with a set and vicious snarl, repeated herself, "I respectfully said, 'shut up, Hokage.' I've all ready been dealt consequences, there isn't a damn thing you can do that'll be worse then what I've had to endure." She spun on heel and went for the door, yanking it so hard it came off its hinges and went clattering to the floor, but Sakura kept going, furiously screaming at innocent people to get out of her way.

~Tsunade slumped back into her chair, afraid that her once student was absolutely right. There was nothing she could possibly do to make the young nin forget what atrocities had been done to her, she just hoped the girl remembered that there were people that loved and cared for her before she did something drastic.

~"I suppose any one of you five could provide me with any information as to what's going on in her mind?" Tsunade waved to Shizune, who hadn't thought Sakura would barrel over her and was lying haplessly on the floor, but sprang into action when her master called. "Tea, please, Shizu," the younger woman scrambling away.

~Master Kodai stood tall, head only inches from the ceiling and made his way to the nearest chair. Everyone seemed to wonder how on earth he was not only able to move so fast, but how he seemed to know every little detail about his surroundings even sightless. "I could use some tea, Mistress," he began, handing his white staff to the watching Mist ninja, knowing the young man would take it without question. "I think the men, albeit my_ helpful_ assistant should leave to find more comely amenities, don't you agree, Lady Hokage?"

~The blonde woman peered deep into the sightless gaze of her guest and nodded, laying her chin on her folded hands in thought, "yes, Monk Kodai, I think they should." She turned her attention briefly to Naruto and the others, raising an eyebrow, "you are dismissed. I will have a messenger come find you when I need your three's mission statements… And, Naruto. Go check on Sakura, I have a feeling she shouldn't be alone right now."

~Naruto nodded wordlessly and went for the gaping door with his friends, picking up the trashed barrier and helpfully trying to arrange it into place to give the three their privacy. When he felt it in place enough to provide ample sound degradation, he chased down the hall after Kiba, Akamaru, and Sai, before heading towards Sakura's apartment.

~"What do you think's going on with Sakura?" The blond asked, obliviously unaware of much and the others rolled their eyes. He was still so naïve on things revolving around women and maybe it was a good thing he was, Naruto had an uncanny ability for jumping to raging anger when those he cared about were in jeopardy, leaving the two ninjas wondering if they should say anything at all, but Uzumaki was persistent.

~"Come on, I know you guys know. Just tell me so don't say something stupid to her."

~Sai inhaled sharply and closed his eyes, "I think Sakura was raped… Nevermind I don't think, I _know_."

~_"What!_" Naruto's voice tore into the quiet, drawing some attention, but he ignored it and lowered his tone. "What do you mean? Who do you think did it?" He was beginning to get angry again, if it had been any of those two ninjas with Sasuke, or even the Mizukage he would tear them apart, rip them to shreds and feed their hearts to Akamaru. He then wondered if the dog would even eat them. He would give them to the fishes then if Kiba's familiar wouldn't touch them.

~"You really are a moron, moron!" Sai slapped his hand to his forehead and drew it down his face slowly, "who do you think did it?"

~"Well, that Mist nin we caught when we got there. He was all over her and her shirt was torn." It amazed both Kiba and Sai that Naruto could be so stupid almost all the time.

~"Sasuke did it you idiot!" The art nin threw his hands into the air and stomped off furious, leaving Inuzuka and Uzumaki alone in the middle of the crowded Konoha street.

~"W-what?" Naruto stuttered and Kiba sighed heavily, he could smell the dark haired Shinobi on the pinkette almost the entire way home. What weighed heavily on his mind though was the_ extra_ scent both Akamaru and himself sensed. It was something he had only ever smelled on pregnant women, and there was no way that a medical nin would allow something like that to happen. _"Would she?"_ He couldn't help but to ask himself and his canine familiar barked a reply, almost as if seconding the question.

~Naruto stopped in the middle of the street and watched Kiba nod wordlessly, and then claim to have some things he needed to do having been away for so long and appropriated a goodbye before leaving his good friend moping his way to a certain pinkette's house.

~"Sakura?" Naruto called, opening her unlocked door and letting himself in. Everywhere there was silence and dust, no one had been here to clean while she'd been away and the amount of grime covering the place left the surroundings dingy and void of color.

~"Hey! Sakura! Tsunade says I should stay with you and give you some company!" He still received no answer and went searching the large apartment, too big for just one person, but since her parents had passed away, leaving a shrouded emptiness not only in her all ready empty heart, also in her life. When they died on that mission, she was left with a large apartment full of grief and loneliness, Naruto could feel it in every corner of this dismal place.

~He searched all the rooms, rapping lightly on the bathroom before coming in and throwing the door open when he saw a flash of pink sitting in the tub, blood awash all over the floor.

~"Dammit!" He screamed and threw back the curtain to find Sakura lightly pressing a kunai blade to her thigh, wincing when its impossibly keen point broke her flesh and made streaking red marks pillow up and slide down her legs.

~She looked up at his with puzzled indifference, "Naruto?" Her voice cooed softly, leaving the blond in a state abandoned panic. He spun the water nozzle to the tub and the spout sprang to life, spilling gallons of cold to lukewarm liquid everywhere.

~Blood mixed with the wetness and washed its way down the drain, spiraling at the black hole and Sakura watched it in muted fascination, feeling Naruto grab her sponge and wash all over her broken and tattered skin.

~"You're so stupid, Sakura. What's wrong with you!" He asked, careful over her fresh wounds, although she didn't seem the least bit phased by the burning contact of water to wound. It was hard to see her in such a state of depression, things would only get worse from here if Naruto didn't do something to help her.

~"I-I know what happened between you and Sasuke."

~Her eyes darted to his, fear lining the edges. She was honestly afraid for the blond Jinchuriki to know, if at all possible, she'd wanted to keep it a secret from him for as long as she could, it saved her so much explaining and tears. She'd been crying and screaming inside for a few weeks now, internalizing her grief and confusion and didn't want to look weak to her childhood friend now.

~"How… how did you know?"

~Naruto smiled charmingly, the expression reaching his eyes as he squinted, "my excellent powers of deduction," he joked, knowing she wouldn't buy it.

~She looked sadly back to the water and fished around in the murky red to find her kunai again, only this time Naruto snatched it away and threw it across the floor, both of them listening to it clatter until it came to rest near the toilet.

~He took her shoulders tightly into his grasp and forced her to turn and look at him. She was fully unclothed, but neither of them noticed.

~"Dammit, Sakura, you're so selfish. I can't even believe how selfish you are," he stared hard into her uncut jade irises and saw hopelessness there, resting among the shards of crystal memories, shattered by her past and spread to the wind by her broken heart. "How can you do this to yourself? It's makes you look pathetic-" her eyes widened and more depression filmed over her gaze, "-you're not. I don't understand why you can't see it." He was smiling sadly at her, pulling her close and knotting his fingers in her hair. There was strength in his words, a certain magic touch that seeped into her mind and drew her from the enclosing darkness like a warming figure to a crying child.

~"I'm pregnant, Naruto." He froze at her words, taking them in and looking them over in his head as if they had some hidden meaning aside from what they actually meant, but he found nothing and drew her away enough to look at her.

~"Is it?" He didn't have to finish, they both knew. She nodded and his insides pulsed like he'd been punched, all the wind caved from his lungs and his hand went limp, falling into the water and soaking the sleeves.

~"I'm sorry," she breathed, "after he… he… hurt me, I wasn't thinking straight. I forgot to do what I should've."

~His hand moved before anything else did, running up her leg, passed her naval, and to the barely visible bump growing there. He should have noticed it sooner, she was the only women he'd ever loved and her form had been carved to memory, every little detail beautifully enhanced and shown in exquisite definition. He should have seen the growing roundness of her body as it prepared itself for another life, but he hadn't and he felt like he'd failed her for not seeing. His hand rested on the baby, a calming sense coming over him. For a brief moment he imagined it was his.

~"Does this mean that you and him are-?"

~"No!" She said it so fast and jerked so hard that water splashed over the edge of the tub and soaked Naruto's orange jump suit. They both looked at each other and suddenly the realization of one of them being naked came to light and Sakura blushed furiously, covering her chest and turning away. The cold was getting to her too and caused goosebumps to fan out across her flesh, making Naruto reach over to turn on the hot water full blast. He popped the shower on and felt his charge relax under the water's heat.

~She lowered her arm and touched the white the wall, flattening her palm against it, the coolness forcing her to stay in conscious reality. "Thank you, Naruto."

~"What for?" He was using the clean shower water to clean away the red essence still clinging to her arms and lower waist.

~"For being here, for coming to get me. I don't know what would be happening to me right now if you hadn't." She felt the sponge leave her back and splash into the water next to her. There was a moment when she wondered if he was leaving and she turned to see what was going on, eyes widening when she saw him stripping off his gear and outfit.

~He finished in a matter of seconds and climbed into the tub next to her, pulling the cork on the bottom to let out the filthy water. With that done, he hauled her up gently to her feet and brought her snuggly against his strong, muscular form, gripping to her so tight she gasped.

~She felt everything, his rippling pectorals, tight abs, his… In an instant she forced herself to think of other things, this wasn't the time or the place to be feeling frisky, not with how so felt and not with her self-inflicted wounds still open and bleeding.

~Her hand moved from his chest to the gashes on her thighs and let out a wave of soft green chakra just to stop the bleeding, gaining a happy grin to play at the corners of Naruto's lips. He

~"You know," he murmured against the crook of her neck, relishing in her delicious shiver that drove him to become bolder. "I can take care of you. You and the baby."

~Sakura froze, unsure why her mind seemed to easily wrap around the idea of Naruto being the one she turned to for everything.

~_"He's always been there, human. Even I can see the love in his eyes,"_ the god briefly paused for a second and chuckled,_ "well, it's lust right now, but there's love there too. A gentle, passionate one he's had for a long time."_

~_"How do you know that?"_ The pinkette asked, feeling Naruto's hands stretch around her and possessively pull her closer until there wasn't a gap between them.

~_"Kyuubi tells me. That sly fox is quite the charmer, I'm surprised none of it has rubbed off on your friend here."_ Ganimaru smiled inwardly as Naruto's hands roamed down the pinkette's back, massaging up and down as gently as he could muster. His callused fingers causing hitch in Sakura's throat, sounding more like a hoarse gasp than an intake of breath.

~_"Do it, Sakura. You'll need a protector for when Sasuke comes for you."_

~_"What?"_

~The goddess simmered within her prison, chuckling lightly, _"you didn't think the dark haired human would give up on the object of his affections did you?"_

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XxXxXxXxXxXx

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~"She's _what_!"Tsunade clutched tight to her chest, struggling to calm her racing heart, if it beat any faster she was going to have a heart attack. She had sat quietly through the entire story that both Yagura and Master Kodai knew, touching slightly on how Sasuke had raped the pinkette and had impregnated her with a Uchiha child.

~The Hokage leaned back into her seat and swept her hand through her blond hair, tugging gently on her ponytail, today was going to be a long day. If she could avoid it, she wanted to put off making a decision revolving around her star pupil until tomorrow, but she debated the wisdom in the thought and sent one of her Anbu guards to track down the pinkette.

~"I suppose, I should be asking both of you your thoughts on the subject," Tsunade growled out, picking up her tea cup and sipping from it. "We should start off with this debacle on the goddess scroll inside her. There's no way to release her from it?"

~Master Kodai shook his head, "not unless she sees fit to release the girl of her own recognizance. Although I've never known Ganimaru to be a merciful being, she's selfish and caters only to her own needs and survival." He carefully placed his cup back on its tray with skilled ease, "she strives only to be released from the scroll, which can't be done unless all the nine tails are collected together and the ten tail recreated. None of the gods can be released from their scrolls."

~Tsunade sighed heavily and turned to the very silent Mizukage, "well, you've been sitting here for a few hours. Do you have anything to add?" The man gave the woman a sideways glance from his cross-legged position on the floor, his ruby pink eyes reminded the Hokage of her own pinkette haired student, "I mean considering you're a Jinchuriki and this whole debate will probably center around you."

~"I know what Akatsuki wants," Yagura was short with the woman, finding her presence irritating for some reason. Her hair was too blond, her breasts too huge, personality too annoying, she was an old hag dressing the young women's part and he could see right through her glamour.

~"And how pray tell would you know that?" The woman was becoming suspicious, pulling her hands together to lay her chin on them in her signature pose of deep thought.

~It was luckily Master Kodai who interjected now and drew away Tsunade's growing attention, "everything that happens around the man is seen by Akatsuki's leader, through Yagura's eyes."

~Tsunade's eyes widened in shock and she threw back her chair, reaching for a kunai in her desk drawer. Even if he was a Mizukage, he wasn't going to come in here and catch her completely off guard.

~"Please, Mistress," Kodai mused, "calm yourself, when the man is around me the vision of the Akatsuki is black. They see and hear nothing."

~Uneasily, the Hokage took her seat again, still gripping tightly to her weapon. From the door Shizune came traipsing in, almost knocking the broken door to the floor.

~"I heard a racket," she growled and gave Yagura an angry look, anyone that could disturb her Hokage, master, and friend deserved to die, she just hoped she got to do it before too long.

~"We're… fine, Shizu," the woman shooed her apprentice away and the three were thrust back into silence. "So talk, Mizukage. This is something I apparently need to hear…"

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

* * *

~He pounded his fist into the temple wall, infuriated to only feel the first tidbits of trickling chakra coming back into his system, this was the first time he'd been utterly helpless and relied on his companions to aid him in anything. They had gone in search of food and left him alone to stave off boredom, but the only thing he was managing to do was break things in his unbridled rage.

~Sakura had poisoned him with one of her chakra filled potions that plugged nearly every one of his power veins, leaving him inexplicably weakened so he couldn't give chase for her. He couldn't believe she could do something like that to him, she was supposed to idolize him in every way and yet she could incapacitate him and go gallivanting off with his ex-teammate. In his mind, watching her fondle the blond was setting his blood on fire. She wasn't that damn Dobe's. She was _his_, his Sakura, his woman, his everything, and now she was racing to Konoha with that moronic Naruto.

~His leg flailed out and kicked a marble pillar, dodging the falling debris and inevitably ruining more of the old monk's temple, although at this point it was more of a husk than a home. A snow storm had come up from the lower regions and dragged all kinds of nastiness with it, almost freezing out the unprepared nins when they couldn't readily find their gear underneath all the rubble.

~"Fucking bitch!" He screamed at no one, a memory of her luscious, soft, pink tresses brushing against his chest forced a reaction in his pants. "Dammit!" Even now she had an effect on him that he couldn't control and the only thing he wanted was to run his fingers through her hair and push his face into the pulse point in her neck.

~Sasuke leaned up against a nearby wall, flexing his fists and feeling the slowly dribbling power move in through his body, almost like and I.V. drip. If anyone could have incapacitated him, it would have to have been Sakura, no one else could make such a strong chakra blocker. In some aspects it pissed him off, forcing him to have to wait a little while before moving forward with his plan of finding a Living Scroll, or retrieving the one inside the pinkette, but in other ways it impressed him. She had effectively removed him as a threat to her momentarily and could likely move him out of commission without using too much effort if she so chose to. He was thoroughly fascinated and gave more credence to her power.

~"When I find you," he whispered angrily, leaning his head against the temple wall and looking at the ceiling, "who am I kidding? I'm just want to touch her."

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~She covered her face with her hands and cried, the rain pouring down in torrents, soaking her to the core. There were things in her life she wasn't proud of, more so in the most recent years since her parent's deaths, even though they were hard on her and fought for her excellance, they were still her parents. Her mom she could always run to and lay out all her secrets to, crying on the woman's shoulder until she felt better. Her father would always give her the advice she needed to hear to keep going, with their deaths, everything felt just more dreary.

~"It's not fair!" She screamed out over the lake, picking up a sizeable rock and throwing it in. The water rippled slightly more, making an obvious splash even has the rain continued to pour down and splatter the once calm surface.

~She'd done it, had let go of all her moral fibers and done it. For years she had told herself that whoever she decided to give herself to would be the one person she would be with forever, not in a million years did she think she would be in this predicament, having had one man steal away her first time and then give her first willing time to another. Everything was a complicated shamble of broken promises and shattered dreams.

~"I wanted the fucking wedding," she shouted, throwing another rock, "I wanted a bunch of fucking kids!... With their dad around!" Her voice was increasing louder as she continued to find bigger and bigger rocks as prey for her angry pitchings.

~"Now it's all fucked up!" She plopped to the drenched grass and crossed her arms over her chest, "I fucking hate my life."

~The junction between her legs twinged slightly from the force of her plummet, but she ignored it, trying to drive away the fresh thoughts of a certain blond thrusting himself between her legs, roughly struggling to hold on before he hit his pique. It was a messy ordeal, only making the pinkette's all ready torn emotions completely crack, she didn't even get a chance to get close to her climax. In the end, Naruto just snuggled close and drifted off to sleep like the big idiot he was.

~_"And he thought he was helping,"_ she thought angrily.

~Sakura sniffed and drew her knees close, cramming her face into her legs. She couldn't think poorly of him, _that_ wasn't fair. He was offering her something she would need if she wanted to be taken as a serious medical nin, nothing honestly mattered if no one respected her. Anubu status and medical prowess meant a big wad of zip if people thought she had lose morals. Dating Naruto and allowing him to claim her child was likely the only way to keep what tiny bit of stable sanity she had left in her life.

~"It still isn't fair," she hissed, absent mindedly picking blades of wet grass and throwing them into the chilling breeze. "I hate you Sasuke," her mind was reeling over everything, all the thoughts reverberating off the walls of her skull, all the memories planting her feelings on the dark haired Shinobi she couldn't forget.

~_"Because of you I'm afraid to let go of everything we've done and spent together. I was there in the beginning and through it all. We were all great friends, us three. None of us were lonely because we had each other, even Kakashi seemed happier because we were there with him. Sure we had our fights, and I know I wasn't like you two, but I tried my to keep up, even though you both had people to teach you_ something_ and my parents pretended I didn't exist until the academy. I just want everything to be like it should've been. Naruto was supposed to become Hokage and you Sasuke, you were supposed to take over as Anbu captain after Kakashi stood down. It's not fair that all these bad things kept happening to take that all away from us. We should have all been happy in the end."_

_~"What about you, Sakura?"_ Ganimaru's voice broke through the tirade of the medical nin's own mind and she gasped audibly, _"what were supposed to be?"_

~"Nothing, I would have just been happy having watched them grow up and turn into great ninjas."

~_"That doesn't sound right, them surpass you and leave you in the dust."_

~Sakura smiled sadly and hugged her knees tighter, "it's been like this for years. They're always better than me, they'll always be stronger. It doesn't matter how hard I try or how much I train, I will never be on their level. I have watched their backs for so long, always a step ahead of me, the distance now is so much that I'll _never _be able to catch up."

~_"You're just an annoying girl?"_ The goddess' words weren't unkind, merely asking the question that kept bouncing off the inside of Sakura's head.

~The young woman nodded, her head falling further forward and her hair, soaked in rain water fell over her face, "just like Sasuke said. I have always been the annoying fan girl. I used to stalk him you know? Sometimes I would ask him to walk me home because I just wanted a few more seconds with him."

_~"He would make your heart flutter whenever you saw him,"_ it wasn't a question, she was just speaking informatively. _"No matter how often you saw him or even if you were mad at him, he made your heart beat so fast you thought it would come tearing out of your chest."_

~"How did you know that?" A memory flashed across Sakura's mind, an old one with seemingly crinkled edges like an ancient picture, faded by time and warped by nature. A tall young man with long white hair leaned forward to give her a kiss, he wasn't anything extravagantly handsome, only slightly good looking, but his eyes were kind, wise, and gentle. The deep in lain blueness reflected like pools of shimmering water, deep enough to hold vast secrets, but still shallow to allow his emotions to show through. He was chattering on about something and Sakura could feel her stomach fluttering, not the sickening kind, but the kind that made you feel like you were walking on air.

~"Is that Master Kodai?"

~Ganimaru shifted into her makeshift, mental prison and fidgeted, she hadn't ever shown any of her jailers anything of her past, but for some reason the goddess felt better to let a tiny snippet through. It felt like she was making a connection with someone, even if the girl was a stupid human.

~_"Yes, he was younger then. Had a lot more vigor too,"_ she sighed heavily, flashes of random other males and a couple females crossed Sakura's mind also, _"he also continuously forgave all my… philandering. No matter what I did, so long as I came back, Jen always forgave me and made me feel special."_ Soft laughter filled the pinkette's mind and the girl mentally leaned into it, feeling better because the sound felt warm and inviting.

_~"He was… and is my soulmate. Even gods are given weaknesses, mine was Jen."_

~Sakura contemplated for awhile, feeling the rain slow if only slightly, "do you… do you think Sasuke is my soulmate?"

~Ganimaru suddenly sensed herself becoming sappy and snapped angrily back into her hard emotional shell, _"I dunno, human! He's a good fuck and his dick isn't the smallest I've seen."_ She pulled herself deep into a dark corner where Sakura couldn't hear her anymore and the girl smiled, aware that for a brief second, she felt she could stand the goddess within her.

~"Sakura?" A faintly familiar voice came to the girl's ears and she turned to spy her old, silver haired sensei standing behind her, his traditional Anbu garb dressing his good looking frame. The pinkette briefly remembered having to help heal him one time after a hospital visit and had gotten a chance for the very first time to ever see the man's face. He was very good looking if slightly perverted at times and Sakura was the only person have seen his face in a very long time, that little trust between them had made them closer in recent years.

~"Yes, sensei?"

~"You're wet," he was stating the obvious, but was intentionally making a comment that could be perceived as filthy by her standards.

~"And you're perv," she informed smiling.

~"Lady Tsunade has requested I find you."

~"I'll bet she has. She have a blade up her ass?" She watched Kakashi shrug, he was trying to be serious in a matter of fact way, though they both knew it wasn't in his nature to be.

~"I suppose I should go find some dry clothes then."

~"Would you like some help?"

~"Do you want to find the end of my fist?"

~The man smiled beneath his mask and held up his hands in mocking surrender, he knew when the game was over. Sakura, in all his years of knowing her knew she wasn't an especially playful person, ending her banter with threats of maiming and death, but she always meant it in a jovial way. He liked her more than he liked any other person and considered the broken girl more of a sister to him then a pupil in her older age. She looked up to him for strength and support, and he looked to her for healing relief and a good home cooked meal when their schedules coincided. Kakashi Hatake honestly felt a bonded love for the pink haired girl, grown into a woman right before his eyes, and though she was battered and bruised irrevocably by life and herself, she was perfect in his eyes.

~"I'll escort you home," he offered, holding out his hand to help her to her feet. She took it and was hauled against the man as he wrapped them both up in his black water resistant cloak to fend off the cold air.

~"I heard you and Naruto did the dirty," he had said it so nonchalantly and it caused an irritated blush to streak across the girl's face.

~"If you tell anyone, I swear to god, Kakashi!" She threatened, ready to throw a punch to his temple, but his gaze fell on her and froze her solid, he wasn't trying to be joking or hurtful. He honestly had something to say.

~"I think whatever choice you make, whether you choose Naruto or Sasuke is yours. You'll be the one to deal with the consequences and the joys. I will follow your choice no matter what and still care for you for it."

~Sakura stared at him, the blush returning to the bridge of her nose because she knew suddenly that the black ops Anbu Captain had deduced in a matter of seconds, what it took herself a month and a half to figure out.

~"Did Tsunade tell you about the baby?" She just had to make sure.

~"Yes, but I was sure the second I saw you walking towards the Hokage's office this morning. You all seem to forget I'm good at my job because I know what I'm doing, unlike some."

~"You're an airhead, Kakashi," she teased and leaned in closer to his warmth, feeling his arm wrap around her shoulder lovingly.

* * *

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

* * *

~Tsunade waited until Sakura found a comfortable position in the rock hard, wooden chair, tossing the medical nin odd looks because she looked paler now than she had earlier that day, but she tossed it aside due to the things she had to say.

~"You know the burden you carry for continuing this pregnancy, correct?" Sakura inhaled sharply, Tsunade wasn't a woman who beat around the bush, she got directly to the point.

~"Yes, sensei. I do."

~"You're sure, you want this responsibility? A baby isn't something you scoff at, Sakura Haruno."

~Sakura paused for a second, there was several people in the room; Kakashi of course, he was to be her guardian through this whole process, Master Kodai, and Naruto, for support. She was grateful her embarrassment was kept to a minimum, though she didn't see why any of them should have been there at all.

~"I know, Lady Tsunade. I can afford a child with my job at the hospital and care for it on my own." Naruto shifted behind her, almost as if to hiss that he was there to help too.

~"I have no doubt that Sasuke will come here to steal you away. From the information I've gathered from everyone, including you. He's seeking the power you have been given from the goddess and the child you two have made. I can't stress to you how precarious a situation this puts you in, especially with Akatsuki looking for Jinchurikis and others looking for Living Scrolls. We are all at a disadvantage in some ways and an advantage in others."

~Sakura moved her hand from her thigh to her belly, touching the slowly growing bulge, "I will be careful, Hokage."

~"No, you won't just be careful, you'll be perfectly exact in everything that you do and say from now on. People here don't know and the majority of everyone that could use this information against us are still in the dark and it will stay that way."

~"What are you proposing, Hokage?"

~Tsunade pulled out a scroll and unrolled it carefully, taking a pen and signing the bottom half, "this is a marriage license and I'm requiring you as a ninja and as citizen of Konoha to abide by it as I am Hokage and came deem it so."

~"What?" Sakura almost flung herself out of her seat, both her and Naruto nearly having a fatal heart attack. "What are you talking about? I can do this myself!"

~"I'm ordering you to marry Kakashi Hatake. He was informed of my decision this morning after you stormed out and has agreed to be your protector until things can be permanently sorted out."

~Naruto almost crashed into the Hokage's desk as he angrily argued why he was the better choice, "I'm younger, we were on the same team together! Tsunade-sama, you can't think this is the right choice, I mean everyone knows my feelings for Sakura!"

~Waving the blond away, the older woman pushed Naruto back to his seat and growled at him fiercely, "you are a Jinchuriki. Akatsuki is looking for Jinchurikis and if we tell people you're the father, not only will they take you away, they'll come after Sakura as well. I don't know about you, but that's the complete_ opposite_ of what I'm trying to accomplish here." She turned to Sakura and pointed a long, nail polished finger as her pupil, "the only reason I am allowing the birth of this child is because our village needs the Uchiha's Sharingan lineage to continue. Without it, the Rinnegan line, even though it's rare, will be the only remaining powerful dojutsu next to the Byakugan. And I'm not yet willing to part with that kind of a kekkei genkai."

~She sat back into her seat and handed the scroll to Kakashi, who took it promptly, rolling it up and tucking it into a side pack and crossing his arms over his chest. He continued to say nothing and kept his gaze steadily straight.

~"I've made arrangements all ready for a public wedding in three weeks, it'll give us the time we need to do planning and spread the rumors."

~"What about when the baby's born?" Sakura fumed, "what about what I want?"

~Tsunade glared down at her pupil, "and what pray tell do you want, Sakura Haruno?"

~"I-I… I want…" She cursed under her breath, "I don't want this. I mean this is all too much information to take in all at once, on top of the missions for finding all the Jinchurikis."

~"You won't be accompanying that mission, Sakura. You will be placed to work at the hospital until further notice, you are barred from missions and from leaving Konoha. This is your punishment for leaving Konoha without permission."

~Rage filled the pinkette and she bolted to her feet, the hot fury pouring off her in waves, even Ganimaru seemed incensed on the inside, quietly seething with indignation. "I don't care what you say! This isn't fair, I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't even ask for your help. If it suits you better and saves the village, I'll leave."

~"Shut up, Sakura, and sit down. Stop being a problem. You shouldn't have left Konoha in the first place, you put yourself into this position all on your own, now you have consequences… albeit life changing ones, they are your consequences all the same. Now you can either take this long term mission or you can spend the remainder of your pregnancy under lock and key."

~_"Tell the bitch to fuck off!"_ Ganimaru shouted, shaking the confines of her prison and shifting dangerously behind Sakura's eyes, changing them from forest green to heated gold and then back.

~Tsunade noticed this and inhaled deeply, it'd been a long time since she'd had to explain herself, finding it easier to act like the badgering adult and simply tell her _children_ that she was boss and they had better listen or they were going to be on a time out. She rubbed her closed eye lids in frustration and turned to look at Kakashi pleadingly.

~"Sakura, it isn't permanent. As soon as Akatsuki is defeated, the marriage can be annulled and you can go on living your life the way you want to."

~The pinkette snarled at her ex teacher and clenched her fists so tight her knuckles turned white and her long nails dug into her palms, drawing blood. Leave it to Kakashi to make sense in a time when things were at their most confusing, she hated how he could do that.

~Naruto hung his head, cursing how he was a Jinchuriki and couldn't protect the woman he loved. He bite his lip and look up, stepping forward to touch Sakura's shoulder, "I think you should do this. I've waited this long for you, I can keep waiting. Plus, it'll give me a good reason to kill the Akatsuki faster."

~Sakura glanced at her friend and saw the fire in his eyes as he spoke, he was really hurting over this, but was fighting his own emotions for her own good.

~"When they're all dead, we'll figure things out from there," he whispered in her ear, leaning close and kissing her cheek.

~"So, will you do it, Sakura?" Tsunade asked quietly, watching her apprentice nod her head in defeat. It was going to be a long, confusing pregnancy…

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Author's Note – Yay! Another chapter like I promised. Sorry they're getting longer, I can't seem to just cut them off anymore like I used to be able to, plus when the creative juices are flowing best not to try to…


	19. Plan Design Flaw and His Anger

Author's Note – Creative juices flowing. Make it so Number 1! P.S. I am going to start moving the story along in a faster way, making more action because I have been informed that drawing out fanfictions into impossibly long chapters that span into the 30's and 40's is annoying… I have no idea how long or how many chapters there will be in this story, but know I will see this finished because I love this story.

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Disclaimer: NARUTO IS NOT MINE! **Curls into the fetal position and cries**

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**Chapter 19**  
**Plan Design Flaw and His Anger**

_"When a plan fails,  
make another.  
When that one fails,  
make another.  
When **that **one fails,  
go have some fattening icecream  
and join the dark-side.  
...They think hentai more..."_

_~Lady A.R.R.O._

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~Sakura made her way towards the training grounds, taking the shortest route possible and using the least amount of chakra, the past two weeks having been the most draining she'd ever had to endure. Aside from the morning sickness, she having had to deal with, she also had the injustice of a forced marriage to protect the child she didn't have the heart to kill.

~A few people stopped and stared, pointing to her tiny bump and commenting on how the young woman was marrying so well. They liked the match, taking it annoyingly well that Kakashi used to be the woman's much older ninja teacher. Many were taking it so soundly, they saw fit to send cards and gifts, much to the distress of the pinkette and she angrily found herself constantly throwing out useless baubles and well wishing cards. It took Kakashi's gentle hand and soft words to bring the enraged medical nin to a more stable level usually, but it never seemed to quell the angered beast within.

~He had been allowed time off from missions and the like, while others prepared for their mock wedding, spending most of his time ether by Sakura's side or reading from his old and tattered _Itcha Itcha_ book everyone knew had to have been carved to memory at this point.

~Kakashi had mentioned he was going to the Memorial Stone earlier that morning, promising to return in a few hours, but the younger woman had other ideas, rather than waiting for an infuriating man who couldn't keep a schedule to save his life, found herself traipsing to the training grounds in an attempt to keep her mind busy.

~She wasn't in the least bit sure what she was going to do when she got there, but she was positive it was better than lying around at home like a lump getting fatter. If anyone was there, she could always ask them to train, but since it had come out that she was pregnant with _Kakashi's_ baby, many of her ninja friends had gone out of their way to avoid her. It was strange, unlike many of them to pretend she didn't exist, even Ino had become distant, causing a gut wrenching blow to batter into the young pinkette.

~The gates came into view and Sakura passed through them without a word, glad that not many civilians wondered out this far and it left her in remote silence for a little while to think. There weren't even any ninjas training, no academy kids, nobody, this place was as silent as a grave.

~Shivering, the girl wrapped her arms around herself and walked passed the center ring and towards the foliage lining the edge. When she was younger this place was perfect for personal enlightenment and self thinking, offering wonderful solace that Sakura had yet to find anywhere else. Her own home couldn't give her the quiet that this place oozed of, the constant flow of thoughts were only quieted by the nature going on all around her.

~She flopped down onto her back and curled her hands behind her head, stretching out her body to flex the aching muscles slowly shifting around under the surface for the life inside.

~Moments stretched to an hour and the pinkette found herself less and less thinking about things going on in life and around her, sweet unconscious oblivion licking at the edges of her mind as she gratefully reached out for it with fervor, nearly there when a twig snapped nearby. In an instant, Sakura was on her feet, kunai drawn, and defensive stance taken as every fiber of her body was flung into a reckless overdrive caused by startled fear.

~"Kakashi, you ass!" The medical nin yelled, debating for a few seconds on whether she should still throw the kunai anyway, but felt it would be a great waste of energy to go looking for it after it had been thrown, knowing the Anbu Captain wouldn't help her.

~"I came to find you when I didn't see you at home," he was genuine in his worry, though he should have known better than to come looking for someone who wasn't interested in being found.

~"As you can see I'm fine. Now go away," her tongue was sharpened to a tempered steel, taking biting bits of anyone's flesh who decided they were stupid enough to come within earshot.

~"Why don't you train with me to release some of your attitude," he muttered, not really serious, but Sakura narrowed her eyes on her old instructor and shoved her drawn weapon back into her hip pack, finding his suggestion maybe worth something.

~She nodded quickly and made her way to the center of the field, listening to him sputter in an attempt to take back what he'd said, "just do it, old man. It'll be the most fun you've had in a while."

~He raised his only visible eyebrow, her indignant pet name for him had a raving effect on his temper, the only equivalent was likely Sai's endearment towards the pinkette. Both pet names annoyed and harassed the opposite and came out like fighting last words.

~"You set the rules, Kakashi. That way you won't cheat," she laughed out, remembering how he used a mirror in his _Itcha Itcha_ book one time, pretending to be reading. It wasn't the greatest weapon he had, but lying about it later and saying he had eyes in the back of his head was going a little far for young ninjas to believe, and since then rules were always set at the beginning of every training match.

~"All right," he grinned, the expression touching his eyes. "Weapons only. Jutsus acceptable, Taijutsus acceptable, weapons acceptable," her expression made him add, "fine. Ninja weapons acceptable."

~"Perfect," she blurred away, darting like lightning to his side and making the first move. Her fist flailed out with precision, aimed for his jaw, but the old sensei knew the moves of his ex-pupil and dodged easily. Her foot came next, grazing his arm and beginning a barrage of rapid arm and leg movements too fast for the eye to see.

~Kakashi had been trained not only well, but perfectly well and dodged every attack with fluid ease, moving his body only slightly to avoid her thrown punches and kicks. It was the reason he was the Anbu Captain of Black Ops. It was the reason he was called the White Fang. It was the reason he was so good at protecting those he cared about and loved. He was the one and only choice Tsunade had thought of when she was debating over how to handle the delicate situation with her star apprentice, and after offering him the mission and hearing his reply and stipulations, there was no doubt in anyone's mind what would happen to anyone that tried to hurt Sakura.

~The silver haired man leaped for the nearest tree branch and caught it was his hand, rocketing himself to the next branch and the next, followed almost a millisecond behind, by his training partner. She was good, he had to give her that, if she was angrier he was sure she would be beating him to a pulp. Out of all the things he did with Sakura, respecting her was the most important, understanding her power and super human strength wrenched forward by her emotions was key to knowing everything about the pinkette. She wasn't an unusually hard person to comprehend, in fact by some terms, the Kunoichi was relatively simple minded, feeling the same emotions and feelings any normal girl of her age felt. What made Sakura different was the power that resided in her all on her own, without the goddess, was something she couldn't fully understand or tap into without the help of outside forces. The young woman became her best when she had her friends and loved ones around her, taking their hurts and their pains as her own and turning it into raw power fueled by rage and anguish.

~Lake Hokage came into view and Kakashi tore off towards it, wondering if Sakura had been training her body for water attacks like he knew Naruto had been while under the tutelage of Jiraiya. It never seemed like a useful trait to most, hence why so many nins had no idea how to counter water based attacks unless they were of a Mist or Rain village.

~He went blurring up the side of the dried up rock waterfall, chakra suctioning him to the stone base, but he knew he should have thought of a different approach when Sakura powered up a chakra filled fist and slammed it hard into the bottom of the wall, one single small crack spidering up towards her sensei and suddenly exploding into a million tiny pieces. She took to the air and jumped after him, using the falling debris as leverage to get closer, angrily huffing as he blurred away again. The infuriating man should be holding still so she could pound on him instead of running like a kicked dog with his tail between his legs

~The Kunoichi watched Kakashi go darting across the water's surface, ripples breaking out underneath his sandals with each step. He briefly looked back to see if she was following and much to his surprise, she was, tearing on after him at an increased rate of speed the man didn't think was possible. She was not only trained on water, she had perfected the water walking skill.

~He almost didn't get the chance to block when she tossed a ninja star at his chest, completing the move with a roundhouse kick that he took to his defensively placed arms. They fought back and forth for a few seconds, giving Kakashi the chance to finally attack and Sakura the protective stance, when they broke away and the pinkette made a quick jutsu and five shadow clones popped up around her, all just as good on water as their master and they came at the man with renewed fervor.

~Attacks came from all sides and the White Fang sprang into the air, releasing a wave of chakra to form his Chidori and came crashing down on the clones without mercy. Of the six Sakura forms dancing around on the water, Kakashi managed to bring down four and it left the real medical nin and her one remaining shadow clone. One jumped at him from the side and he assumed it to be the real one, leaving her copied counterpart alone, but it was his mistake when the real Sakura crashed a crushing blow to his chest with her leg and sent him skipping across the water until he finally rolled in and was gone from sight.

~The clone disappeared in a cloud and left behind her master as the woman searched animatedly for the silver haired Shinobi underneath the water's glassy surface. She fought to expand her chakra out to test and see if he was close, everything around her changed behind her eyelids and turned to glittering sparkles of green light energy that swirled into various shapes and sizes. A forest lay on the edge of the water, each individual thing holding its own distinct shape and amount of energy coursing through it. She loved this learned justsu, glad Tsunade had shown her the perfect way to see chakra for healing, but found its fighting properties perfect for her use.

~Throwing herself into motion, the Kunoichi raced for the shoreline, only yards away when a pair of freezing hands griped to her ankles and dragged her underneath the glassy folds. She flailed around and struggled to get her bearings, unable to find which way was up or down. All around her, the sparkling green engulfed her and dragged her deeper. The tiny particles floated all over her body and brushed against her face, kissing her cheeks softly.

~Her air was running out, but she couldn't find her way of the green glittering prison. She screamed under water, bubbles surrounding her face and body, when two strong hands grabbed her around the waist and crushed her to their chest. They were rocketing up and finally broke the surface.

~Sakura gasped, grabbing for Kakashi's collar and burying her face into the crook of his neck. It had been a long time since she had actually been afraid of dying, scolding herself for not letting go of her chakra searching jutsu sooner, but knowing it had a bad habit of sticking to her for a few minutes longer than was needed.

~"Are you all right?" Her sensei asked, holding her gently while that floated for a moment.

~"Yea," her voice came out in a low whisper, "just tired, I think."

~He chuckled knowingly, glad to have been of service, swimming both of them to the edge to pick her up and out of the chilly water. She was soaked to the bone and clung to him for warmth, closing her eyes as he made his way back to town and to the pinkette's warm apartment.

~When she was dressed and clean, coming out of the bathroom with a toothbrush firmly hanging out of her mouth, she called out to the older Shinobi and found it oddly silent. The window let in a cooling night chill, blowing a piece of paper off the nightstand and carrying it fluttering to the floor. Kakashi had been called to Tsunade's aid, leaving her in her own capable hands for a few hours, though if she was scared there were armed guards on watch at the door.

~"Figures," Sakura grumbled and threw her towel to the floor, reaching for the light switch and flicking it off. The room was cast in darkness and shadows, drawing her attention to the shimmering moonlight flickering in through her slightly parted drapes. Tiny particles in the air made the light dance across her floor and Sakura eased herself into bed without another word, the sweet bliss of beautiful sleep was quickly overtaking her until she gave into it willingly.

~Hours must have gone by before Sakura felt the wonderful blanket of dreaming oblivion pulled from her grasp as the aching need to heed nature's call forced itself into her mind. She opened her eyes and turned under the covers, pushing them away slowly with a yawn. There was a few languid moments where she debated on how badly her bladder needed the release, hating to leave the warmth of her bed, but knowing she would only have to get up later if she waited. Pulling herself off the mattress and touching her feet to the freezing boards, she dashed for the bathroom, almost knocking over her sword in the process, managing to dodge it at the last moment and slammed the door shut.

~The toilet flushed and the sink water shut off at length as Sakura emerged, refreshed and tired, going to the bed without any hesitation. She looked in enough time to see her ornamental sword, moments ago nearly pushed over, actually laying on the ground and knowing that Kakashi would cry over her unjust behavior to such a _beautiful_ weapon, she knelt over to pick it up. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but as she set the sheathed blade on her dresser she realized the heaviness in the cutting edge wasn't what it had been only hours before. She drew closer and plucked the chain on her lamp, casting the sword into the light.

~"Oh my-"

~"Sakura," a voice called and the Kunoichi dropped the blade, it clattering loudly to the floor, rolling a few feet away.

~"S-Sasuke?" She began to tremble, refusing to turn around and look, not wanting to see him. Not right now. Not while she was completely alone and without aid.

~Sakura gripped to the edge of the dresser and clung to it for dear life, praying it had the strength to hold her up if she fainted, hoping with everything inside her that she didn't give into the blackness no matter how badly she wanted to.

~"I found you, although to tell you the truth it wasn't very hard," he whispered, the sound of him getting to his feet from Sakura's reading chair made her wire her eyelids shut, waiting for painful blows that never came. Instead, a callused hand came out and took a firm, yet gentle grip on a pink tress and gave it a light tug. "They're still so soft," he murmured, as if to reassure himself.

~"Stop!" She ordered non too gently and flung her less than expectant body towards Kusanagi in a futile attempt to protect herself, but Sasuke was faster, snatching her up tight in his grasp and throwing her to the floor. She rolled dizzyingly and laid there motionless at the foot of her bed, feeling the cold floor creeping through her skin.

~Sasuke was fast, blurring to her side before she had a moment to regain her composure and her bearings. He grabbed her legs and yanked her under him, blanketing her with his sheer body weight. In an instant Sakura felt an old nightmare coming to life all over again, constricting her breathing and cutting off her voice, there was no escape from this waking terror, no Naruto to shake her or Sai to save her. This was the real deal and in Sasuke's eyes she saw amusement dancing within the irises.

~"You're trembling, Sakura. Do I really scare you that much?"

~She haltingly shook her head, but knew he didn't believe her in the least, "get off me!" Fear lined her demand and forced a chuckle to escape the dark Shinobi's lips, even now she still had a defiant fire that raged inside her and though she was utterly terrified, she didn't want to show it.

~He leaned in close to the shell of her ear and whispered softly in it, causing her to quiver uncontrollably, "I want you. Now."

~"No!" The pinkette flailed her hand out and punched the Shinobi cleanly in the cheek, watching in muted horror as he reeled a few inches, but returned not a moment later with a tiny trickle of blood coming from the corner of his lips. He grinned down and reached for her mess top pajamas barely hiding anything from the world and so easy to yank apart.

~His hand fingered the bottom hem, slowly twirling it between his fingers and pulling on it gently at first. He relished in the feel of her tender skin, her soft voice, and strength, it surprised him he hadn't noticed any of it before. She hadn't changed so much over the years that one wouldn't recognize her, and yes her strength and ninja intelligence had increased ten-fold, her wiles as a woman hadn't. Her body though more finely carved was still the Sakura he remembered, her face remained the same, everything about her was still the annoying fan girl, but he was inexplicably drawn to her. It was an indescribable feeling of need that ran so deep within him he couldn't deny it and he really didn't want to.

~She shivered at his touch, pushing away his hands, but he took them both in one of his own and stretched them out above her head, drawing close to the vein in her neck. He rolled his tongue over the pulsing flesh and felt her buck underneath him almost violently. She was gradually coming around and soon, if he was gentle enough, he knew she would beg for him to continue.

~The Shinobi kissed her pulse point, releasing her hands to let his own fall to her breasts, cupping so tight they left bruises. She cried out quietly, feeling him nettle his way between her legs, spreading them around his hips and she turned her face away so he wouldn't see her tears. It was degrading, her inability to neither deny nor fight him, her heart refused what her mind demanded she do and in the end she could only accept her fate from Sasuke without question lest he hurt her or the baby inside her.

~She opened her eyes, ignoring his ministrations on her sensitive areas and spied beneath her bed the location of her missing sword. An idea formed in her mind, egged on by the pressing hardness she felt against her core. Her attention turned back towards the shadowed ninja, distracted by her supple breasts, but feeling her gaze upon him, he looked up and smirked.

~It went against his code, made things more complicated than they needed to be and he knew he would regret it later, yet he had to do it. He reached up with both hands, running his fingers through her thick luscious locks, yanking them tight to hold her steady, and diving in for a bruising kiss. She went stiff against him, everything taut like a strung bow and putting more added pressure on his nether regions, almost driving him mad.

~Sasuke felt himself losing all train of thought, wrenching her inevitably closer, his body begging for a release only she could provide. He moved one hand away from her head and reached down to the ties on his pants to make quick pace of losing them. When he was free a soft growl escaped his throat, quickly swallowed by the Kunoichi, surprised by this chain of events, though more so by his lips on her own than anything else. She actually felt the need to kiss him back, the sudden rising pressure tugging on her center forced her to acquiesce to its wishes lest it painfully left her hallow.

~_"I…I can't resist him. Why the _fuck_ can't I resist him!"_ Her mind whirled, body incompliant with her want to get away. She couldn't even account for her hands, wherever they were in their tangle of engrossed limbs, leaving her plan to reach for her weapon at a standstill.

~The dark Shinobi brushed his hardened staff against the fabric of her panties, smirking evilly when she gasped lowly, all the while coming back in for another bruising kiss. He had found her weakness, next to the vein on her neck, if he wanted her complacent and wanton all he had to do was give a few well placed kisses and she was putty in his hands. Momentarily he mocked the female body for its weaknesses, but found his internal gloating to be short lived when he peered into her eyes as he was taking a breath, finding that sickening melted gold instead of her forest green.

~Sakura had retreated into her mind, allowing Ganimaru to streak forward, royally enraged for being awoken from her deep, prison slumber. The god reached out for her blade and slowly pulled it from its sheath, enjoying the Shinobi's lack of attention to detail in his perusal of the pinkette's body. He hardly noticed the weapon's tip aimed for his temple until he looked up and saw the change in her eye color, only then did he notice the menacing tip mere fractions of an inch away from his head.

~There had been surprise, but above all else there was anger, mostly at himself for allowing the god possessed Kunoichi to get the upper hand of him, though it quickly dissipated when a suriken came flying in from the bathroom and snagged on Sasuke's pants as he went to blur away, tearing into the flimsy material.

~A shadowed figure slowly made its presence known, heels clicking softly on the bathroom tile as his darkened outline came into view. It was apparent by the height that it was the Mist ninja Yagura, his arms crossed pose struck Sakura as familiar and she logged it to the back of her mind to think on later.

~Sasuke finally yanked himself away, dodging another thrown weapon that embedded itself into the floor right next to the pinkette's temple, but both Kunoichi and the goddess held fast, knowing full well she wasn't the intended target and wasn't going to be hit.

~_"Get up, girl!"_ Ganimaru ordered, feeling Sakura hoist herself to her feet and race for the door as Yagura whizzed past her to go after the Uchiha. Their collective chakra powers slammed into her back, both fighting for dominance in her tiny apartment, the clear threat of them tearing apart the place was becoming lethally apparent and Sakura knew she needed to get out of the mine field.

~She was tearing down the stairs in her thin night clothes when the sound of Sasuke's fire jutsu came to her ears, its searing heat came full blast through the hallway and almost threw her off her feet, if she hadn't grabbed the rail she knew she would have been tossed for a loop. The way the two Shinobis fought, it surprised her that her home hadn't yet collapsed to the ground, though she knew it was an entirely real possibility that it absolutely was going to burn. When she got a hold of Sasuke's neck, she was going to wring it between her fingers until he stopped kicking.

~The seemingly momentary empty threat paused when Sakura's threw her front door open and saw Yagura and Sasuke fighting like rabid animals on the street, their fight now ensuing out in the open, their powerful jutsus and taijutsu attacks were coming dangerously close to other buildings and innocent lives. Not wanting to be the reason someone got hurt, the medical nin sprang into action, crossing the expanse of her now burning house to the kitchen to dig through her pack supplies for the suspect weapons. Her eyes barely grazed over the photos on her mantle as she ran passed and spared a second to grab her academy picture as well as the one of her parents, if these two precious objects were destroyed she knew she would be eternally crestfallen.

~Sasuke was driving his elbow into Yagura's back, nailing the older man to the street while the younger yanked a scroll from his side pack and let loose a barrage of flying, poisonous snakes with their jaws open and ready for the kill. The assault appeared to have hit and Sakura gasped, believing her quick thinking to have come just a minute too late, but when the slithering reptiles scattered to the city, dissipating into clouds of smoke, Yagura's body was nowhere to be found and Sasuke seemed slightly irked that his attack hadn't hit.

~"There!" Someone screamed and Sakura glanced in time to see Juugo and Suigetsu racing to their leader's aid, whatever they had been doing that allowed for their absence before was finished and the fanged shark nin was pointing to a puddle of water laying almost harmlessly on the ground.

~In an instant Yagura flung himself up towards the unsuspecting Shinobi, making some ancient jutsu motions with his hands that reeked of old, forbidden chakra, likely something the tailed beast had cooked up and an arsenal of water based attacks screamed forward. Pillars of black boiling water sprang to life, shooting out poisonous frozen green barbs towards its prey, encircling it like a trapped animal, leaving the Shinobi powerless to counter. There was no way for Sasuke to avoid it and his eyes widened in shock. It was then that something inside Sakura snapped, a rush of mind numbing emotions and memories welled up inside her to a bursting point, shoving her into action. Deep within the confines of Ganimaru's prison, the goddess felt the Kunoichi delve deep into the precipice of her endless power and take what the pinkette needed.

~The young woman shrieked as her body transformed and wings tore through the delicate human back flesh, pitching blood in every direction that spattered the ground and drenched it red with her life essence. Her chest pounded in rhythm to her furiously beating heart and the eye tattoo that had disappeared before came back full force, glowing light green as the Kunoichi threw herself in front of Yagura's attack, lifting her arms into defense. Everything happened so quickly that no one even saw it happen and in the next confusing moments of chaos, things shifted slowly until they came to a screeching halt.

* * *

~_"Sakura!" A voice was calling out to her and the pinkette felt her once heavy lids fly open, blinded instantly by the sun's warm, bright rays. It took a few flabbergasted seconds, but she at length spied who had called her name, Sasuke, standing in his Anbu Black Ops gear, waving to her and holding a young child while a few others stood scattered around him. They were motioning for her to follow, but Sakura stood back, unsure of what was happening._

"Ganimaru?"_ She mouthed, though felt no presence lingering in her mind like it should have been, holding back inside her mental prison like a hiding specter. Her head's confines seemed unnervingly silent and empty without the god there to tell her what was going on and what to do. Shehardly realized until that moment how much the goddess actually enlightened her on things._

_~"Mommy!" A little pink haired girl was racing over to her side, her unruly rosette locks bouncing with each step and closely resembling her father's similarly unruly hair. The sight made the medical knee weak and her knees buckled beneath her, driving her to the ground. There was a strange unbridled pain that gripped her heart and threatened to shatter it, and all she could see through the veil of shimmering, blinding tears was the face of her dream-like, angelic daughter, looking so much like herself._

~"I want it!" _Her head screamed, the sound reverberating off the walls of her skull, only giving further note to the lack of a god giving her these heart wrenching dreams... nightmares... whatever they were._

"Are you willing to fight for it?"_ Everything disappeared, the light, her family, her children... her Sasuke. Without warning, it all dispersed and was replaced by darkness and at the oblivion's center floated a woman in the fetal position, hovering mere feet above the ground, beckoning Sakura to come to her._

_~As the Kunoichi drew closer she felt the deafening pulse of the abyss sunk deep into her thoughts and rendered most of her clear minded thinking obsolete as it was replaced with chaos and pain, leaving her unable to form any kind of attacks on the woman should she make this encounter physical._

"This,"_ the woman said, uncurling herself like a lotus blossom, her wings stretching out behind her and tail flickering in amusement at her ankles that were still lingering off the ground,_ "is my most human form. The most vulnerable part of me. I want you to see it because soon you'll be embracing it and letting it become part of yourself. Everything I feel, see, know, will become one with you and you will..."_ She paused as if debating her next words,"_you will take my place."

~"What?"_ Sakura gushed, the quivering fear was read loud and clear by the demonic goddess and she smiled warmly, reaching out to soothe her frightened charge._

~_"_My time is soon to be over... Our time as gods is coming to an end, I've seen it, felt it... and now I'm embracing it."

~"But hat does that mean?"_ The Kunoichi rubbed her aching temple gingerly, trying to unfog her cloudy thoughts._

~_Ganimaru drew closer and formed a ball of light in her hands, showing it to the pinkette as tiny images danced across the shimmering pool of balled light. It was the young human ninja herself, sitting comfortably in a romanticized version of what appeared to be her future, a young baby cradled in her arms as four other children all ranging in ages played around her. And there, standing rather cockily was a man, dressed in his formal ninja gear, sporting the Uchiha fan at his back, a confident smile adorning his handsome features as he watched his family. There were touches of sadness hiding behind his gaze, but he hid it well and crossed his muscular arms across his chest, brimming with fatherly love._

_~Sakura was crying again, reaching out for the image she'd wanted and prayed for for years, wanting to feel its warmth and touch its perfection, _"please. I want it."

~"It won't be easy to obtain, and you're going to have work for it. There is anguish and pain before the happiness you seek."

~_She touched the ball's surface and watched the image ripple like the surface of a still pond,_ "anything,_" her voice whispered out._

_~The god smiled rather morbidly and reached out to touch Sakura's cheek, _"all right. First... pain." _A wave of nauseating sickness gripped the Kunoichi then, something filling her mouth with liquid so thick she couldn't scream... couldn't breathe. Things all around her were melting away, the edges of her eyesight tinged with red and slowly turning white as an engulfing feeling of all encompassing agony burned through her and threatened to remove her existence._

* * *

~Sasuke felt blood before he saw it, the thick scarlet liquid dribbled down his face and filmed over his eyes effectively blinding him. He felt a body pressed into his chest as they fell and hit the ground with a resounding thud and for a few dazing seconds he struggled to gather his bearings, wiping away the coating of sanguine fluid. His eyes saw a flash of pink awash in red and Sasuke yanked himself back like he'd been burned. It took a few debilitated seconds for the Shinobi to recall who the bleeding mass of flesh before him was and scrambled like mad to get to her side when realization hit him like a ton of falling bricks. He carefully avoided the matted, feathered appendages laying in shambles, torn and battered from the onslaught of Yagura's poison ice pin jutsu, trembling with every labored breath she took.

~She was covered from head to toe in thick barreled needles, lacerating her hamburgered flesh and piercing her most vital spots, allowing her life force to come pillowing out in mad gushes that pooled beneath her too quickly to stop. It was plan to see that she was dying, the color in her normally porcelain, slightly tan features was turning ashen gray and her dusty rose pink lips were fading to a drowned blue. In a matter of seconds she was going to lose all consciousness and in a minute she would bleed out. The rising panic in Sasuke's mind was entirely real, feeling this overflowing helplessness like a piercing blade to his soul. It hadn't occurred to him before that Sakura could in fact die, he or Naruto were always there to catch her if she fell into trouble. They always were the ones protecting her... loving her, and now at the end she was the one to protect him.

~He gathered up her much smaller form and cradled her against his chest, an agonizing wave of total convalescent failure had brought the once great and superior Uchiha to his proverbial knees as he mourned the loss of something precious in more ways than one, and all around him the army of Konoha's finest ninjas invaded the small street way and watched in deafening silence as Sasuke released the first tears he'd cried in more years then he cared to count. He pressed his face into her chest, aware of the salty tears streaking down his face, but not the strangled cry coming from his throat.

~From the crowd, Lady Tsunade pushed through and froze when she saw her star student laying motionless and gray in the arms of a rogue ninja long since thought gone. She blurred across the street to the young Shinobi's side, gasping at the extent of damage that had been done.

~"Save her," Sasuke whispered, "please... Kami! Please, save her!"

~The Hokage shakily reached forward, fingers brushing up against the cold skin of her beloved medical nin, struggling to find a pulse point, but every where she touched there was only complete stillness beneath the finger tips. Her mind willed the young girl to still be alive, begging her to take in a haggard, rough breath, anything, just a sign that she could be saved.

~"I-I..." Tsunade began and faltered, "I'm sorry... I can't find-," she started to cry, flashing the last things she said to Sakura through her mind, wondering why she'd been so harsh and unfeeling. It wasn't her character to be so cold to the girl. She thought she was helping make the Kunoichi see reason, but now all she could see was the pain she'd inflicted on the pinkette without so much as a word of approval for her unmatched strength of heart towards her friends and teammates.

~Sasuke crumbled inside, his whole body visibly wilted and he clung to Sakura's deathly cold form tighter and slowly... he felt himself die...

* * *

~Author's Note- I'm sorry this was so long in coming... I'm going through a horrible family crisis and though this helps the pain, I still have to be present in mind and body to write it and so far this past month I haven't been... Keep your prayers with me... thank you...


	20. A Bloody Cherry Blossom

Author's Note – Thank you for the love, things are doing slightly better and I'm really trying to write and smile. Your prayers and well wishings helped out a great deal. Thank you guys!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… or Sasuke… Or Sakura… BUT DAMMIT IF I DID THERE WOULD BE MORE DRY HUMPING!

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**Chapter 20**  
**A Bloody Cherry Blossom**

_"When you break a cherry tree in half  
you'll spend a lifetime trying to grow another  
that will never be even half as good."_

_~Lady A.R.R.O._

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

* * *

~_"I've already buried a father, a mother, countless aunts, uncles, and cousins after that horrible night. Clocks continued to tick on, but time refused to pass. The sun rose and the sun set, but shadows remained. Where there once was sound there was now was eternal silence. What once was whole was now in shattered pieces. All because of one pink haired Kunoichi that I'd once never noticed before, and suddenly I can't get her image out of my head… Now I must bury her too. If this is what dying feels like, I don't want it anymore, I want it all to stop…"_

~His dark hair fell over her face, shadowing his afflicted expression as the silent tears plummeted upon her perfect, porcelain features, bloodied by the minutes ago attack meant for him. He quietly sobbed, reaching his fingers down to the first spike he felt and wrenched it out, feeling the pulsing breath of those who watched all around him. They watched in somber horror as the dark haired, rogue Shinobi continued to pluck out the green needles, an oozing liquid trickled from the wound and all eyes floated to the shocked Mist Shinobi standing in sickened disgust. It was obvious the man hadn't intended to hurt the young woman, but everyone glared at him with revulsion in their eyes, thinking the worst of his beginning, innocent intentions to protect the Kunoichi.

~"Move!" Someone shouted, struggling to push through the crowd and the bawling Hokage turned to see a flash of blonde come barreling into the open, feeling her heart wrench in its confines when Naruto tripped at the last second. He fell to the ground dumbly staring straight ahead at the pink mass of bloodied flesh, sitting lifeless and dead in the arms of his ex-teammate.

~Sasuke finished at length, running his fingers across the woman's curves tenderly, a loving expression crossing his face as he wrapped his arms around her chest and hugged her close. He was too late. Of all the times for him to be too late to protect her… to save her… and it was the one time it meant more than any other. He couldn't stand it, feeling like this. It was like being in that bloody, dark room all over again, seeing the lifeless corpses of his father and mother staring blankly up at him, his brother glaring with frigid malice as he told the young Sasuke to hate him with his whole being. The youngest Uchiha was helpless again, a useless child hanging on the whims of his mother's apron strings waiting for a good word while his father ignored his very presence.

~"Sakura," the dark haired Shinobi mumbled, crushing his face into her collarbone and glancing up to see her headband sitting beside her still body. The metal face plate was crushed and the Konoha symbol of honor so many nins wore with pride was shattered beyond repair. He reached for it shakily and withdrew it back to himself, hugging both Kunoichi and her headband close as if they would offer some kind of solace to his aching soul.

~"You!" Naruto screamed, pointing an angry finger in Sasuke's direction, "you did this to her! It's your fault!" He darted forward, yanking himself out of Hinata's comforting grip and tearing across the street in a blur, grabbing a handful of the Uchiha's shirt, lifting him up off the ground as the pinkette slipped from the oldest teammate's grip. The body of the medical nin slithered to the ground and softly bumped the asphalt, going unnoticed by the demon containing member of team seven. There was a hushed silence between the growing crowd as the on just arriving ninjas tried to figure out what had transpired.

~Naruto growled, his lip curling into a nasty snarl and his eyes narrowed to feral slits as Kyuubi tossed beneath the surface, threatening to break free at the soonest opportunity. "She loved you more than anyone else! How could you let her die?"

~Sasuke couldn't answer, _had _no answer for the blond Dobe. He would have pushed Sakura aside had he known what she was up to, the damn woman was just too unpredictable now, her every thought was uncalculated and had no forethought. Just like_ someone_ else he knew.

~"Naruto!" Hinata cried, falling to her knees, begging her secret crush to let Sasuke go, but her words went unheeded as the Jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox began to glow red with unrestrained fury.

~Tsunade went to reach for Sakura's body, struggling to pull her faded pupil away from the duo. Her hand grabbed the Kunoichi's right wrist, but Naruto let out a throated warning, forcing the Hokage to withdraw her appendage lest it become severed from her body. She hugged her hands to her chest, looking rather vulnerable, tears still clinging to her cheeks and she stared up at the two once best friends. This wasn't supposed to happen, everything was so wrong, like the god writing their lives had suddenly lifted his pen at a crucial moment and left the scene hanging on a whim.

~"_I'm going to kill you_!" The Jinchuriki howled and slammed a fist into Sasuke's face, breaking the man's nose and throwing him into a nearby building, caving in the side. At first, it appeared as if the Uchiha was going to fight back, get angry for the Dobe's sucker punch, but when Sasuke gathered up enough strength, he climbed to his feet and just stood there motionless. He was accepting his fate from the blond, knowing he deserved as much and more, letting Uzumaki come at him again and again with everything the younger had, hoping it would snuff out the older's own existence before too long.

~Tsunade pulled Sakura to her, feeling the cold, bare flesh beneath her fingertips, wordlessly praying to whatever god was listening that he take care of her. She was about to pick the girl up when Kakashi poofed beside her and laid his cloak over his once student's nearly unclothed form, hoping to give her some dignity in death and looked back up at his battling pupil's, debating in his mind as to his first move.

~"Let them be," the woman muttered, choking grief almost overtaking her voice, "he won't kill him, but he'll try."

~Kakashi nodded without a sound and knelt down to help Tsunade pick up the Kunoichi, taking the Hokage's upper arm with him and getting her to her unsteady feet. They had to get Sakura's body away from the crowd before too much more happened and more gawkers came to stare. All ready, the ANBU Captain could see Ino Yamanaka and a few choice others that were close to the pinkette standing in horrified shock.

~The sensei went to blur away, but felt the fragile body in his grasp suddenly shudder. His eye darted to Sakura's form, something in his mind telling him it was nothing, though he was sure the pinkette had moved. There was no way she had, his Sharingan eye saw no life within her, not even from the goddess he knew was hiding deep within her, everything about Sakura Haruno was gone, leaving no trace that she'd ever been alive to begin with.

~Tsunade gave an odd look to Kakashi, wondering why he was still here and followed his shocked gaze down to the younger Kunoichi. At first there was nothing, just a lifeless, covered corpse of a girl she loved like a daughter, but then something twitched… not just twitched… pulsed. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, thinking her own mind had gone mad. Sakura's whole body had suddenly throbbed, like a microscopic heartbeat, at first slowly and almost insignificantly, but as the seconds ticked by and Naruto's senseless beating on the limp Uchiha continued, the pinkette showed an impossible sign of life.

~Tearing to Hatake's side, Tsunade touched her student, where once there had been only cold and dead tissue, now sat a warm and silently breathing body. Her chest moved sluggishly, like the beating of butterfly wings and her wounds oozed green liquid, the poison dripping off her body as if being pushed out by some unseen force.

~"What's happening?" Kakashi murmured in awe, kneeling down as Tsunade followed. He removed the head plate from his eye and delved deep into the chakra of the Sharingan to see what was going on, only to find a light, green/gold tinged energy coursing through her veins, swiftly getting stronger by the second.

~The Hokage's fingers danced over a thumping pulse point, her eyes shining with fresh tears as she peered up into Kakashi's eyes, "she's alive." In an instant, motherly instinct and medical know how overtook Tsunade's mind and she ordered Kakashi to spirit the woman to the hospital, pointing at some remaining ANBU to break up the one sided battle others were looking on at with frightened awe. No one seemed to notice the sudden, miraculous change in Sakura's body and the blond woman wanted to keep it that way if she could, giving out false hope was the last thing on her mind.

~When she knew that the two battling Shinobis were taken care of, the only female Hokage to ever grace Konoha with her nearly overwhelming presence suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke and was off teleporting to her hospital, and to her charge.

* * *

~Sasuke pounded his fists against his cell's walls, rattling the imbued chains and causing an echo down the once silent prison halls. He was testing their strength, knowing full well that even with their chakra draining spell, he was going to break free of them if it killed him to do so. Something was afoot, something the always morbidly wordless ANBU were keeping from him and that angry knowledge increased his tempestuous rage almost tenfold.

~"Master Sasuke," Juugo murmured from the next cell, his voice full of concern for his leader. The beating Uchiha had taken the night before was brutal and there had been nothing himself or Suigetsu had been able to do about it. Blood coated his skin and matted his hair, having been given no opportunity to wash it away, although Juugo was sure Sasuke was in the mood to bathe. His nose was still broken too, though had been reset by a medic earlier in the morning and left to heal on its own, he would live that was for sure, even if the Shinobi didn't want to.

~They had been captured by the ANBUs the minute the Hokage had come barreling in and only the violet eyed Mist nin had managed to get away by deteriorating himself into water and scattering before a jutsu could be used to bind him. It left the inhumanly massive Sound nin and a rogue Leaf nin behind to fend for themselves, but at least Suigetsu was the one with the object of their earlier attentions.

~"Please, don't strain yourself," it was the most the tall Shinobi had spoken in awhile. At least all at one time and Sasuke slumped back against the wall, feeling more overwhelming hopelessness coming to chew away at his thoughts. He'd allowed his woman to die and couldn't even get himself or his men out of harm's way. He was inevitably useless, feeling the raging depression rearing its ugly head and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

~_"I'm not a perfect person,"_ he told himself, _"I've never once claimed to be and there are so many things I've done in the pursuit of my goal that I wish I hadn't done. I keep getting stronger and gaining the needed power to destroy_ him_, but it's always never enough."_ His thoughts unavoidably turned towards the pinkette left for dead on that cold Konoha street while Naruto tore into him. She had a beaming smile when it showed through her sad jade green irises and her hair could catch moonlight unlike anything Sasuke had ever seen before.

~Suddenly he saw her face that night in the hot spring, eyes downcast and an expression of gloomy degradation plastered where a shining smile had once sat. He jerked against the chains, rattling them so loud their echo broke free tiny pieces of rock that sprinkled down on his head, _"I didn't mean to do those things to you. I… I couldn't help myself, it just happened…" _ His consciousness argued with his inner self, screaming maddening obscenities and cruel words of biting anger at him. He was a monster and everyone knew it. A cruel bastard of the worst kind, taking everything from people because it suited his needs and wants, heartlessly destroying those who got in his way and in the past years since he'd left the Hidden Leaf Village, he'd given more abuse to the ones he felt closest to, more so than to anyone else.

~He buried his chin into his chest, teeth grit tight and all he could think about was Sakura sitting lifeless, cold, and alone in some burial casket, waiting for her time to be put into the ground. The thought sent a rush of cold spiraling down his spine and into the heart of his gut, sending the wind from his lungs as he struggled to keep from losing his cool demeanor. But he needed her, needed to see her one last time. No matter the cost or who he hurt in the process, he had to get to her and tell her body good bye or he would lose his mind.

~"Juugo," Sasuke whispered, "we need to get out."

~The sound nin leaned closer to the wall to hear better and possibly keep the ANBUs from getting a whiff of their plan, "yes?"

~"You need to lose your sanity."

~They both thought over the consequences of this, the chain of events to follow would be catastrophic if not properly handled, but it appeared to be the only thing either of them could do.

~"Yes, sir…"

* * *

**Hokage Tsunade Age: 55**

* * *

~She fingered the green casket, the edge fabric soft against her tips. Inside her she was praying for everything to go all right, for things to be flawless in their planning and execution. There was no room today for someone to slip up, the funeral procession was to be carried out to a tee and then the mission to hunt for the Akatsuki was going to be carried out. Tonight she was going to fall into bed and allow her sheer exhaustion to overtake her, because things were going to be better after today, there was nowhere else to go but up.

~"Thinking about her?" Kakashi's voice sliced into the silence like a hot knife to butter and it took all of the Hokage's strength not to flinch. She spun on heel to face the Jounin, seeing his Konoha leaf plate pushed to his forehead where it belonged for once, his Sharingan eye was steadily taking in the bare room. The vertical slashed scar across the left side of his face looked mean and angry in appearance, adding to his mysteriously powerful visage and Tsunade, for a brief second, wished she was years younger, but shook away the thought chalking it up fatigue that she was thinking like some mindless academy girl.

~"A little. I'm worried that someone will try to disrupt the procession and the plan will be found out," she laid her hands on the closed coffin, sensing the dead weight inside it.

~"Don't be, we have round the clock guards on Sasuke and his man, they're out looking for the missing water nin and we have Yagura and Naruto under lock and key in case someone thinks to come after them during the funeral."

~"How is Naruto taking the news?" She was slightly enraged by the blond's behavior since the ANBU Black Ops finally subdued him. He was constantly asking to see the pink headed Kunoichi, tearfully begging to be by her side while they prepared her corpse for the final ritual rites and when he'd been denied he fell into a despondent mood, mourning not only the loss of his lover, but the imprisonment of his once best friend. The Kyuubi had tried, on several occasions through the night, to take over, recklessly throwing the blond's unmanned, limp body around like a ragdoll in an effort to break free of it mental and physical cage.

~"He's promised to control the nine tail if he is allowed to watch the memorial service. I have given no promises and leave the decision to you, Lady Tsunade."

~She sighed heavily, if it wasn't one thing it was another and her hand came to her temple to rub the aching nerves behind it, _"only a few more hours until this is all over."_ Dropping her creamy colored appendage back to her side, she wordlessly nodded to Kakashi, "allow him to come, it'll give him closure and possibly something to fight harder for… Have they found the scroll?" Without looking over her shoulder, she knew the silver haired Shinobi had shaken his head and decided that having all one's eggs in a basket was impossible for these times, growling angrily.

~A few black robed people came in then, startled by the Hokage's and the ANBU Captain's presence, but said nothing as they went to the coffin's side and lifted it up by its golden handled edges, taking it from the room without a sound.

~"Let's get this over with…"

~It was like the third Hokage's procession, everyone dressed in black. This practice of eternal respect wasn't used for every ninja that passed on, mainly only figure heads, but Tsunade had ordered it so. She felt if her surrogate daughter was going to up and die on her, the least she could do for the head doctor in Konoha's Hospital was to pay the proper homage to a young woman of her status.

~The stone paved street leading to the silent graveyard was lined with friends, fellow ninja, medics, townspeople, nearly everyone who had been in contact with the always helpful Kunoichi was here, paying their respects to a fallen comrade taken before her time, and in the act of protecting a loved one of their village. No matter his status as a shinobi, it was honorable to die protecting another.

~No one moved, not a sound was uttered, all action ceased as the black and dark green satined coffin came into view from the bottom of the stone slab steps, carried by four fellow ninjas Sakura had known well in life. On her right side stood Kiba Inuzuka and Rock Lee, on her left was Neji Hyuuga and Shikamaru Nara, all at one time close friends and allies with her, but none of that seemed to matter now. As they passed by the masses slowly, the sound of someone playing a shamisen* behind echoed through the souls of everyone who listened.

~Ino Yamanaka collapsed against Choji, bawling into his black outfit as he lightly touched her head and tried to offer some form of comfort, but could find no words other than a few hushes and gentle hugs. He too struggled against his own inner feelings of woe as the casket came passed his gaze.

~Tsunade stood at the end of the processional, briefly glancing up at the cloudy sky that was letting loose small droplets of rain water and feeling a cold zephyr chill come screaming through her body, freezing her to her core. Beside her she had Kakashi and Naruto, both silent as sentinels as the tomb came ever unwaveringly closer, but sensed Naruto's coming tears as he clutched tighter to a small branch of cherry blossoms he felt she needed to have in the afterlife.

~The two Shinobi in front on either side of Sakura nodded solemnly to their Hokage, waiting for her to give the orders.

~"I see you honorable Shinobi, who here have you brought to be entombed?" Tsunade asked, performing the usual burial rites of a true ninja. Her eyes were set and staring hard without any emotion at all.

~Kiba tried to start, but his voice cracked, feeling not only his own pain but that of Akamaru's as well and Neji intervened, knowing the wake had to continue without pause, "we bring you a fallen ninja, Hokage. A true and virtuous Kunoichi. She has served without question and brought this village protection and safety. We ask to bury her alongside her fellow fallen and beg her name to be written upon the great memorial stone."

~There was a pause as Tsunade looked to the ground and breathed in deep, exhaling softly before she looked back up into the male Hyuuga's eyes, nodding her permission. They carefully moved the sarcophagus into the proper position on the stand, lining up when their deed had been done and bowed respectfully to their Hokage before they took to their positions alongside their mourning friends.

~"We lay to rest a good medical Kunoichi and great ninja," The Hokage turned to the covered woman and laid her hand on the coffin, "may her memory always warm our souls and her spirit seek refuge in the loving arms of Kami." She set her cherry blossom branch on the lid and stepped back to allow others to pay their final respects.

~Naruto would have gone next, but he held back, watching the line of others go through as they set their presents atop the young woman's casket and he felt more burning tears go streaking down his face. The pain was so immense he thought he was dying, his heart aching from its torn shreds still bleeding in the wake of Sakura Haruno's death. Behind him a tearful Hinata tried to reach out and touch his shoulders, but she couldn't. She too felt pain for the death of close friend and ally, her soul awash in sorrow not only for the pinkette, but for her blond crush as well and she drew her hand back to her chest, praying one day he would see she was there for him.

~When the line ended and the only one still clutching to the final remembrances of things gone past was a blond haired Dobe, mournfully sobbing in silence, he drew forward and lifted two photographs to the pile of Sakura blossoms; her family photo taken years ago, slightly burned by the fire and her academy picture with Kakashi and her closest friends.

~He shook as he laid them down, biting his lower lip so hard he drew blood and kissed his one last gift to her goodbye, giving it to the Kunoichi's covered coffin and stepping back. Sakura had to now be buried, her headstone gleaming in the day light like a hurtful reminder of what Naruto would never touch again.

~Four cloaked ANBU ninjas lifted the satin box from her and delivered it towards the abysmal hole whose blackness seemed to dredge on forever amidst the gloomy minds of those who watched. They were about to lower the woman into her final resting place when an onslaught of sharp shurikens came out of nowhere and forced the ANBUs to drop their load. The coffin bounced slightly, Sakura's pile of flowery gifts slipped off her lid and fell to the ground.

~In an instant, everyone was on their guard, eyes darting everywhere in an attempt to see who had effectively ruined the final moments of Sakura Haruno's funeral and all eyes rested on the shadowed figure that leaped from the forest's edge, coming swiftly into view.

~Naruto growled angrily, the rising fury battered into him with a merciless blitz of agony and he came forward ready to annihilate the man who dared try to disrupt these horrendously painful moments for him.

~"_SASUKE_!" Uzumaki bellowed and blurred forward, only to be stopped by the insanely out of control Juugo, his body covered in the poison blackness that engulfed the sanity in his mind.

~"Who do I kill next?" The orange haired man asked with a large, monstrous smile playing on the corners of his lips and he flew at Naruto, ready to fight.

~People who had no fighting skills ran in terror and those who did, including Kakashi and the ANBUs ran to help in the battle, a few hanging back to protect the Hokage who stood in perilous rage at the scene happening before her. She snarled as all her quick thought out planning went up in a huge plume of smoke and left behind shambles.

~Sasuke turned to the dropped coffin and laid a cautious hand on the lid, knowing that Juugo would keep the ninjas busy for the few moments it took for him to say goodbye.

~"Sakura," he murmured, almost as if her body would hear him. "I never meant to hurt anyone, especially you. Over the years I forgot what it meant to rely on someone, to care for another person. I've only felt anger and hatred for so long it's tainted me to the core." His knees buckled and he fell beside the covered, wooden box, both hands on the lid for support against everything inside him fighting to come to the surface and bitter, stinging tears clung to the back of his eyes.

~"When I first met you in the rain that night, I didn't know how to cope with someone trying to help me and I ran from it. When we were placed on the same team and you made it clear your feelings for me, I spurned them because I was too busy feeling hate for someone else to let anyone in." A hot tear raced down his cheek and dribbled off the end of his chin, "I need you to know something, Sakura…" He chewed on his lip, balling his hands into fists, "I found a reason for me to change the person I used to be."

~Juugo was struggling behind the Taka Leader, throwing the mass attacking nins back, bellowing out a hoarse battle cry and jumping back into the fold of ninjas struggling to get to his friend and master, but he wasn't about to allow that no matter what. If it meant his own death, Juugo was going to protect Sasuke from these Leaf nin no matter what the cost.

~"When you saved me from the rain, from the river, from enemies… from myself… I realized something I never thought was possible. That I could feel something besides hate. You're the reason I feel like this, why I feel my hatred slowly slipping from my fingers." He pounded his fists on the coffin, screaming at himself for not being able to tell her sooner and letting everything he wanted more than anything else slip through his fingers.

~"I'm selfish!" He screamed and suddenly a hand touched his shoulder and he turned to look up at Kakashi standing over his solemnly. Juugo had been subdued at last and Naruto was kneeling on the ground sporting a fat lip, glaring at the Uchiha like he was some kind of disgusting bug that needed to be killed.

~"Please," Sasuke whispered, "let me say goodbye."

~Kakashi peered over at Tsunade who nodded and motioned for Naruto to be let go, the blond unsteadily got to his feet and drudged to his ex-teammate's side, falling in line beside the slightly older man.

~"You're a piece of shit," Naruto muttered, his anger ebbing away when he saw Sasuke clutching to his own photo of Team Seven, slightly wrinkled and torn from being crammed away into too many pockets.

~Sasuke said nothing and leaned his head forward on the casket, "I wish I could take away all the pain I put everyone through, I want to take it all away." He cursed at himself for shedding more tears, unable to call them back after they spilled over the edge of his lower lids.

~Naruto glared at the slumped posture of his best friend and hesitantly clapped him on the back comfortingly, they were both hurting and being angry didn't seem to get either of them anything but more pain, mentally and physically.

~"Dammit!" Sasuke screamed, "I need her to hear what I have to say!"

~The blond nodded his head knowingly, "she's the reason we're not raving, mindless lunatics. She changed us for the better."

~Glancing at Naruto, the black haired Shinobi suddenly remembered why he had been friends with the stupid Dobe in the first place, he'd always been in the habit of saying the right thing at the right time and now wasn't any different. Sure Naruto was an idiot, sure he was stubborn, thick-headed, headstrong, and didn't think before he acted, but he was still the best friend anyone could ask for.

~Sasuke leaned in close and kissed the lid, moving to one end of the tomb and Naruto moving to the other as they stared at each other with knowing expressions. They hefted the heavy sarcophagus up and towards her headstone, both lovingly dropping in her body without another word. As they covered the grave with earth, everyone all around them just seemed to melt away and the only people left behind were two close friends and once teammates, burying their loved one.

~Tsunade watched in sighing relief as the two Shinobi sluggishly drudged their way back and two ANBU moved forward to restrain the Uchiha, but the Hokage waved them away, "I'll take control of Uchiha and Uzumaki-"

~One masked man moved to say something and Tsunade easily waved him off, "if either one of them tries to hurt me, I'll disembowel them," she threatened and turned to them, "come with me boys."

~Her office was still as tacky as ever and her door was still lying off its hinges as the two Shinobi entered the office, the silence almost deafening in the building from the lack of people working. Many were either hiding from the attack on the memorial service or other places, Tsunade was sure no one would come here as a full day of mourning had been given for the beloved Kunoichi.

~"Sit," the woman ordered harshly and the two young men sat. They stared ahead uncomfortably as Tsunade eyed them for a few long moments, hanging her chin over her interlaced fingers. "I suppose this is where I get down to the nitty gritty. I hadn't expected things to turn out so…" She gave Sasuke a hardened glare, "badly."

~A shadow darted in from the window and Kakashi's form took shape on the sill, "Lady Tsunade, it seems our," he paused as if to find the right words, "… our little bird has flown the coop."

~Tsunade let out an aggravated growl, rubbing her sinuses, running her fingers through her hair. She was over worked, over stressed, and about ready to remove someone's fingernails with a bamboo shoot, but as stressed and tired as she was, this new _problem_ arising an entire series of issues would ensue.

~"Where had she gone?"

~Kakashi lifted a hand to his ear and tapped on his telecom and waited as if for some divine intervention, although everyone knew he was waiting for information from his team. A low crackle came through and the ANBU Captain nodded to himself as he learned of their target's whereabouts.

~"She seems to be hiding in the forest rather well, they know her rough vicinity."

~The Hokage felt her rage rising and slammed a fist on the table, "she's in _no_ condition to be traipsing around outside! She needs to be in her hospital room resting, she's lucky the babies are still alive."

~Sasuke and Naruto threw each other confused glances and returned their attention to their village elder and leader, waiting for her to let them in on the proverbial secret.

~"I suppose you two will need to be briefed on the situation, though Naruto knows more about it then you do, Sasuke._ And don't think you're off the hook for going rogue, I will deal with your punishment later, but for now I'm assigning you two to go into Konoha Forest and bring back a Kunoichi." Both young men perked up instantly, tuning in their ears in an attempt to sort out the jumbled mess of their thoughts. Something crawled around in their insides, a lurking curiosity shrouded by cautious doubt, neither really wanting to know exactly what was going on, but knowing they needed to for their own sanity's sake.

~"The whole funeral, it was a fake. I thought it up last night while we were stitching up Sakura's hamburgered body. We needed a scapegoat, something to make people think she was gone and though the fight between Sasuke and Mizukage Yagura was unexpected, it offered me the way to make our little medical nin disappear without a trace and with no repercussions." She reached down into a drawer to her right and scrounged around inside for a moment before finding the object of her attention, a rolled up messenger scroll they all had seen a million times before, except its seal was made with an old formed jutsu that had lingering chakra even after Tsunade had opened it.

~"This is word from our scouts that an Akatsuki member is hovering around the edges of our village and has been for at least a week, I've kept this from the wrong parties because it seems every time someone finds out our _business_-" she slammed the scroll down and nearly startled Naruto out of his seat, "I get idiots on my doorstep causing havoc." Her eyes narrowed visciously on Sasuke and she sighed heavily, too tired to do much of anything but yell and scream.

~"What does this mean?" Naruto asked, but the gears in Sasuke's head were all ready turning. He darted to his feet, going for the door without a word, though the old hag got to him first.

~"You are still a part of this village whether you care to admit it or not, Uchiha, and you have punishments that need to be doled out to you," she watched Naruto climb cautiously to his feet as if to follow, although to what he was unsure about.

~Sasuke said nothing and left, feeling the burning need to get to the forest and find this_ Kunoichi_ before their enemy did. Waves of strange emotions were coursing through him at a rate he didn't think possible and he wasn't quite sure how to feel about any of them, one minute he was glad, another relieved, but there was a bit of anger fettering around the edges like a tiny bit of infection to a wound, threatening to spread further in, yet hunkering down without hope of leaving any time soon.

~The Dobe followed mindlessly, asking questions to a silent Uchiha that continued to go unheard and unanswered. Naruto wanted to know who they were chasing after, why Tsunade had been so cryptive, and why the damn Dabattayo wasn't answering him.

~Konoha was still outside, the somber hangings of grief still remained on the air, bringing the depressing note of the city down to abysmal levels. The stores were closed, signs off, and people mourning in their grief, everything was dreary and slow, too much like a ghost town and Sasuke didn't like it.

~"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, forcing the older man to pause and turn to his mission mate. The sound echoed loudly off the walls of buildings and frightened off a stray cat from a nearby windowsill, forcing it to take cover in a less_ crowded_ street. "What's going on?" He asked.

~"We're getting Sakura…"

* * *

Author's Note – I'm working on another chapter tonight, but don't expect it until tomorrow night maybe Saturday night. Please be nice on this chapter I'm outta whack tonight…

P.S. I was listening to Hoobastank's The Reason and I was watching We Are Marshall….. lol sorry!


	21. Because You Live

Author's Note – Wow! I'm feeling good today! Have been away on holiday . But I'm back now!

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Disclaimer: I don't own NaruNaru …. Sorry yall!

* * *

**Chapter 21**  
**Because You Live**

_"Because you live and breathe,  
Because you make me believe in myself  
when nobody else could help...  
Because you live, girl.  
there's twice as many stars in the sky.  
It's all right, I survived, I'm alive again.  
Because of you, made it through every storm...  
I'm so glad I found an angel...  
...My world...  
Because you live there's a reason why,  
I carry on when I lose the fight.  
I want to give what you've given me...  
Because you live I have everything I need to survive.  
Because you live,  
I live."_

_~Jesse McCartney - Because You Live_

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~She ran her hands over her belly, standing at the edge of a waterfall cliff. It was pouring down rain harder than she expected it would and her hospital gown was doused with water and perspiration, not uncommon for the medicine that was coursing through her veins that struggled to keep the effects of her day old poisoning from coming back, though she assumed herself safely in the clear. Even though Ganimaru was oddly silent when the young pregnant Kunoichi awoke this morning, she knew it was the goddess who had saved her life, keeping the toxins from reaching her heart and effectively pushing it out before it could destroy her body and mind.

~Sakura's head pounded in her temples, rushing blood throughout all the aching portions of her body and threatening to crack her skull open from the pressure, but she ignored it as she peered down at the Village Hidden in the Leaves. In the distance there was Hokage Mountain, and at the village's center, the Memorial stone, both things that stood for admiration and honor. People would walk by and see these things, feeling waves of overwhelming emotion and respect for those who had fallen in battle doing their home and their people a job of great importance in the art of ninjitsu and today _she_ was to be laid here as well, an unfathomable farce concocted by a raging Hokage in the throes of giddy grief, all in an attempt to keep hidden a continuing heritage line and a forbidden goddess ensnared inside her very own adopted daughter.

~The Kunoichi's emerald and gold flecked eyes glazed over as she watched her own processional commence, chewing on the inside of her lip when the coffin containing her _body_ was carted by friends to the only woman left that held any claim as a relative, adopted or not. There were words that passed between the Shinobis that carried her carcass and her Hokage, before her coffin was set on the ceremonial stand to be given final respects by villagers, teammates, loved ones, and friends. She watched in entrancing awe as Ino, one of her closest confidants brought her a bouquet of pink orchids, the pinkette's favorite, and laid them tearfully upon her casket. The blond then fell to her knees in agony, sobbing so hard her chest heaved, leaving it to Choji and Shikimaru both to tear her away from her friend's body. It was a heart wrenching scene that Sakura hadn't wanted to wish on anyone, happening to take a secondary glance at her teammate Sai and found even him to be hunched over in a form of grief he was struggling to hold back. Everyone believed this falsehood, this sham, this lie of a funeral concocted by the Hokage herself in an attempt to hide a yet to be born bloodline and a possessed Sannin level medical nin from the hands of enemies who would use her against them. In some instances, Sakura knew her sensei was right to make the funeral happen, no one would believe she was alive and no one would come to find her now, but it killed the young woman to watch her friends and loved ones all hurting so badly. She didn't know she commanded so much respect and love from her peers. It was touching and disconcerting at the same time, her memories of hurting herself over the years for a certain raven headed Shinobi must've put them all in tizzying fits while she selfishly struggled to find a way to feel alive, while her insides died.

~Naruto was the last one to go, his body language spoken clear as day to the Kunoichi even miles away. She saw his heaving chest, his slumped shoulders, and dejected, somber expression. He was suffocating inside, feeling a heavy ache for a woman he loved more than his own breath, and behind him Hinata Hyuuga was dying inside for a man she couldn't live without.

~Sakura eyes widened when the oldest of the Hyuuga daughters attempted to reach out for her blond friend, but he was so stricken with his grief he saw and felt nothing nary his own sadness. "I'm so sorry," she whispered to them, wishing they could hear her, though knowing they could not.

~ANBUs came to her coffin and gently carried it to her would be grave, the woman watching in far off silence figured it was about time she took her leave to go find some proper clothes so she didn't freeze and look like some crazy maniac running around in a hospital gown, but just before the masked ninjas had made it to her tombstone a squabble broke out, leaving Sakura in confusion as he casket was dropped and two people came bolting from the foliage lining the graveyard's outskirts. One with fiery orange flamed hair came forward first, his curse seal glowing and swiftly overtaking his form as he cackled loudly and leapt for the first ANBUs to attack. Next came Sasuke. Her heart thudded wildly in her chest as she watched in muted horror as the processional came to a screeching halt and Naruto struggled blindly against Juugo's merciless onslaught in an attempt to get to her fallen body before Sasuke could do anything to her, but he was powerless to stop the black haired man.

~_"He's going to ruin everything!" _the constantly changing train of thoughts coursing through her skull had managed to find one stray threaded notion to grasp a hold of and she clenched to it tightly. "Dammit, Sasuke! You're going to-?" She watched him kneel down beside her black and forest green clothed death box, seeing him speaking to her body like she was still alive. It took everything inside of her not to scream in frustration because she couldn't hear anything he was saying, that annoyed her the most. A time like this where for once she could see the honesty in people's words and eyes and in most cases one wasn't _present_ to see or hear those things, but she was and dammit she wanted to know. No one else's words meant anything to her, only Sasuke's and she was too far away to see or hear a damn thing.

~A moment or two later Juugo was restrained by Choji's bulk and Shikamaru's shadow techiniques, the taller sound nin didn't stand a chance against hardened veterans of the ninjitsu way, but Sakura had to admit he big behemoth had put up a great fight and now Naruto was making his way towards their ex-teammate. At first, the woman was positive they were going to fight, something she hated to see more than anything else, they were supposed to be best friends and teammates, though when the blond Dobe fell to his knees beside the Uchiha, she knew instantly Naruto's hatred seemed quelled. They helped each other bury their fallen companion and were dragged off by Tsunade not a few moments later.

~If Sakura seemed worried, she didn't show it, turning her head towards the forest's edge as she struggled to hear if someone was trying to sneak up on her. She was sure the ANBUs had been told to come find her before she died of cold or was caught by some wayward villager having strayed too far, but they were too good to let themselves be heard, she knew because she trained a few of the ninjas herself, if they made mistakes they were punished severely. Whoever was nearby either didn't know she was about or they learned of her presence a little bit too late.

~"Whose there?" She called commandingly, narrowing her eyes as she stared into the foggy gloom of the forest, "I know you're there so stop pretending like I'm stupid and come out."

~It took a few moments, but the intruder morphed from the foliage shadows at length to show themselves to the pink haired Kunoichi. "Suigetsu? What are you doing here?" She blinked in confusion, suddenly remembering she hadn't seen him down there fighting with Juugo and briefly in her hazy mind last night she vaguely heard people saying they hadn't captured the Mist nin fighting with the _traitor_.

~"I could ask you the same thing," he said coldly, staring at the young woman with an odd look plastered onto his features. "You're supposed to be dead."

~Sakura pointed to the ruined processional, barely saved by Naruto's Dobe reactions to his broken comrade, "I am if you haven't noticed."

~"So why are you here?" He came forward a few feet and seeing the pinkette remain motionless, came to her side. His eyes glanced towards the funeral slowly breaking up, people going in all different directions and guards taking Juugo away.

~"It's a Konoha plan from the Hokage. It'll keep the Akatsuki from coming to find me I suppose."

~Suigetsu growled in annoyance, "those fuckers again. I saw one of them earlier this morning while I was trying to keep away from the Hunter Nin after me."

~Sakura's eyes widened in surprise, "_what_? There's an Akatsuki member here?" Her voice had gone so high pitched she almost cracked and her eyes darted around wildly as if he would just suddenly drop in on them unexpectedly.

~"We've got to get out of here!" She darted forward, grabbing the man's wrist and wrenching both of them towards the dense forest where she felt safer than out in the open. At first she felt him trying to pull himself away from her, possibly thinking about abandoning her out here all alone while he made some daring, albeit stupid plan to get to Sasuke and Juugo, but when Sakura's hand clutched tighter like a vise he relaxed and let the scantily clad woman lead him.

~"What are you doing?" The Mist nin asked finally, watching the crouched Kunoichi digging through a hidden tree hallow and yanking out strange packaged boxes.

~"If you haven't noticed, I'm almost naked and running around in the rain. I store supplies here sometimes when I'm training for long periods of time so I don't have to go home." She pulled out a kunai from the bottom of her stockpile and easily cut through the twine ties holding her bundled boxes together. In a second she had pulled out a red outfit not really fit for the rain though better than nothing and without forethought as to Suigetsu's presence, she tore off her soaked gown and began to bind her breasts with bandages before pulling on a tight fitting bra to hold her large breasts in place.

~Suigetsu stared in stuttering awe as he saw every inch of the pinkette in all her beautiful, taut, lithe, perfect…_ pregnant_ glory. He noticed the swelling baby bump, bigger than he'd seen it before and for some reason, though he was sure it should have repulsed him, he found himself drawn to the life within her, almost reaching out to touch her bare skin when he realized his thoughts and jerked himself completely away. Sasuke would annihilate his manhood, feed it to the dogs, and likely impale him on a stake without taking a second's pause for even looking at Sakura with more than a passing thought.

~He shook his head wildly, even when that disgusting whore Karin was still around, he'd never had these kind of odd reactions towards women. He knew how to control his own body, even if his mouth was a completely different story. Sure, he was a red blooded male with the same needs and wants that best fit his gender, but something about Sakura screamed out to his, made everything within his body's confines turn to gelatinous goo, like some kind of intoxicating scent was controlling him, or some siren's song had entranced him to his core. It was all unexplainable to him.

~She was struggling into a pair of skin tight black spandex shorts when the shark man looked back, seeming to be blissfully unaware of his racing thoughts, sighing in relief to not have been caught looking at her gloriously ample assets.

~"If I'd have cared about you seeing me naked, I would have told you to look away." He froze at Sakura's words, he'd been caught, he was going to die now and he tightly closed his eyes to wait for a death blow he didn't want to see coming, but it never came. One eye opened slowly, than the other and he saw Sakura giving him an odd look as she pulled her protective fishnet shirt on, pulling it to her hips and yanking on her red bikini top and sarong fashioned skirt that draped down to her calves. This was the equipment she used when she went to Suna for missions, but it would do until she could find something else and at least it was dry, though it wouldn't stay like that without her cloak sitting in one of the damn boxes somewhere.

~She pulled on her knee length red boots and long sleeved gloves edged in white, feeling the first bits of warmth come into her body from the covered skin, glad to have these clothes out here like she did, all she needed now was a cloak.

~Suigetsu watched in muted fascination as the well ass endowed Kunoichi bent over box after box searching listlessly for something that seemed lost and the Shinobi couldn't help the warmth flowing through his genitals until it was too late. He clumsily used his arm to cover the blossoming erection, but only succeeded in brushing against it and making it even more obvious. A curse escaped his lips and he flung himself to his feet and began to walk away grumbling about needing to use the bathroom.

~Sakura flung away the useless remains of her storage boxes, finding them hopelessly useless in her quest of a warm coat and sufficed herself with attaching her storage packs with poisons, powders, weapons, and herbal remedies, cursing out loud about how she wanted her sword. Her hand brushed against the two smaller dagger sized blades on her hips, but they weren't the same thing and hadn't been used in a long time, their primitive poison container hidden in their hilts was clumsily made a few years back and didn't match the potential her sword had, yet she would deal with what she had for the time being.

~"Suigetsu?" She called lowly, scrambling around to pick up her things and stuff them back into the hallow before she allowed anything to catch her off guard. The damn Taka member had been gone for longer than was necessary to take a piss and though she knew he wasn't leaving to use the bathroom, he'd been gone long enough.

~"Hey!" She said louder, "fish breath!" If anything was going to make him come that should've worked, but she got nothing, not even an aggravated sigh or loud complaint. She thought on it oddly and looked around carefully, eyes glancing everywhere all at once, scanning the abnormally quiet forest.

~Her green orbs narrowed slightly when she thought about the silence, even birds should have been chirping at least, though here she heard nothing. Absolute silence and it unnerved her to the core, spiking her instincts to unbearably high levels, attuning herself to everything around her; every rock, every tree, every speck of dirt and then suddenly she hear the rustle of something, clothing perhaps. She turned in the direction of it and raced ahead, blurring with the returning chakra she felt seeping back into her aching body.

~Sakura stumbled into a grassy green clearing that she'd been to thousands of times before and had thought nothing of it other than it was a great spot to stargaze and cloud surf, but today it was something different, some inexplicably more sinister.

~Someone stood over an unconscious Suigetsu, their sugegasa hanging so low on their head that Sakura couldn't make out their face. The black, red clouded cloak billowed slightly in the low wind and in an instant the medical Kunoichi knew what this man was part of the Akatsuki and the one Shark Breath had been talking about earlier. The one stalking the perimeter of Konoha, probably on the lookout for Naruto, well she wasn't about to let him have her best friend.

~"Who are you!" She yelled across the clearing and the man turned, his sandals crunching over a twig that gonged loud in the pinkette's ears as blood thrummed through her temples and pulsed lightly with her rage.

~"I am who I am." The stranger spoke in riddles, not a good sign.

~Sakura's fingers itched on the pommel of her dagger, glad she had poisoned its blade earlier before she decided to go gallivanting off for the stupid platinum haired Taka member. She didn't know why she felt a need to make Suigetsu come with her, maybe it was for her protection, maybe it was so she could protect him, either way it didn't matter. She saw him lying unconscious like a dropped ragdoll beside the Akatsuki member and knew only that she was going to kill this man if it was the last thing she did.

~"Who are you?"

~"Sa-" She cut herself off, remembering she was supposed to be dead, and without previous forethought she spouted the first thing that came to mind. "I'm a Uchiha."

~The man balked at her words for a moment and laughed shortly, "really? I didn't know the infamous Uchihas had a daughter."

~Sakura growled inwardly, she couldn't believe he knew who the Uchihas were. Yes, they were well known in Fire Country, but she didn't think some nameless rouge ninja would have any idea who they were. She searched his body with her emerald colored irises, trying to find a weak spot to attack for should this turn lethal before too long, but his damn cloak covered everything and she could see nothing useful to her.

~"They didn't. They have…" she paused in thought, remembering Sasuke's older brother, "_had _two sons."

~"So, you married a Uchiha?" He stepped menacingly closer, a smile playing on the lips of the man before her, an odd grimace as if in disbelief, but she still couldn't see anything of the man's face except his mouth and chin.

~"You could say that."

~"Either you did, or you didn't," he stepped forward again, testing the Kunoichi's tolerance and found it exceptionally honed, she wouldn't be easily afraid, although he would quickly change that.

~"Fine. I did. What of it? Now tell me your name." She watched as the figure laughed shortly and lifted his hands to his hat to lift the brim up so his face could be better seen.

~"Why, I _am_ a Uchiha," Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan bore into her mind and tore it apart, searching endlessly through her memories and thoughts without a heed to what she was struggling to keep hidden. He saw it all, every last thing she had seen, heard, felt in the past months and let his smile drop when he realized everything, but there had been one hitch, one tightly surrounded brick protection he hadn't been able to cut through. Puzzlement crossed his features, though was swiftly replaced by another placid expression. Things like this were to be figured out in more likable circumstances, right now was not a time to try to piece together a mystery that clouded his brain.

~Sakura felt herself falling, released from the Shaingan's hold, but never made it to the ground as a pair of very warm hands slipped around her and cradled her close to a soothingly comfortable chest. She felt a cloak wrap around her shivering frame and looked up to see…_ "Sasuke! No, it's not him."_ In her mind, for a brief, hazy moment she had thought she saw the youngest Uchiha son, but knew without a doubt that this was the older. His long ponytailed hair, emotionless façade, and entirely Uchiha aura was close, though not close enough to be entirely mistaken for his brother.

~Her insides screamed for the man to put her down, feeling his searching hands holding her steadily to him, finally run along her baby bump, causing her whole body to seize up. He was gently, almost tenderly touching that which he didn't think was possible, looking down at the barely distended skin and seeing the life…_ lives_ that grew there and they were obviously of his bloodline, endless pools of chakra coursed through their tiny bodies even at this stage, their uncle could only imagine their potential in life.

~"He actually did it," Itachi whispered, somewhat unsure of his voice at first, but found it before he sounded surprised. He reigned in his coursing thoughts and just in time too because Sakura looked up at him with two pleading greens, flecked with vibrant gold, unafraid to stare him directly into his piercing gaze, even though she knew he could render her powerless in an instant. She had bounds of courage as well as fear, a healthy fear, that was good for an emotionally, mentally, and physically weakened Kunoichi, but he could see something rustling around in her head, something his Mangekyo couldn't show him. There was something angry, fierce, cunning... _ancient _swimming around in her bottomless uncut, jade pools and it gave _him_ a healthy fear. There was only one thing he could think of that could possibly frighten him like that and he knew it was a God, probably the one he'd lost because there was no way this young woman was a Jinchuriki.

~"Please, don't hurt them," she brought both her trembling hands to her belly, brushing her fingertips against his, the movement froze him completely still. He hadn't felt a touch so feather light in what seemed like forever and his breath hitched in his throat for a split second, this woman had a power over him. Over _him_. Her whole body oozed this intoxicating scent that made his mind reel and he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame, burying his nose into her neck feeling the insatiable need to be closer to the very core of her soul. He was under the pink Kunoichi's spell.

~"I could never hurt my brother's offspring," he murmured, feeling her stiffen in his grip. This was a strange feeling that washed over him, unlike anything he'd ever felt before and he wondered vaguely if it was the power of the Living Scroll within her, there was no other explanation for it and his mind reeled over the possibilities suddenly laid out before him.

~From across the clearing, both ninjas heard a pained groan escape the lips of the shark toothed Shinobi. His eyes sprang open and he glanced at the sky for a long few moments, causing both huddled nins to startle and stare at him. They didn't move, wondering what the man would do and a strangled cry came from Sakura's lips when she saw a large, bleeding gash across his forehead, looking angry and gnarled. It needed to be healed before he lost too much more blood.

~Sensing Itachi's momentary distraction, Sakura flung the heel of her hand into his jaw, lacing the attack with chakra that glowed green with gold threads swirling through it. She watched the blow connect, throwing him backwards a few feet and she fell to the wet ground, gaining instant freedom. It took the oldest Uchiha a second to gain his bearings as his brain wondered through what had just happened. A young pink haired Kunoichi had just slammed an actual attack into him, if he wasn't so filled with shock he'd have felt anger for allowing his attention to veer elsewhere even for a moment, and as he climbed to his feet, he glared around furiously for the woman.

~Sakura picked up Suigetsu's head with one hand and pushed out some healing chakra to his wound, hoping to close it at least before Itachi tried getting to his feet, but something grabbed her by her shirt's back and flung her across the grass, rolling her until she was disoriented and dizzy. She knew that Suigetsu was in danger, heard his yelp of pain when his head slapped back down into the ground and there wasn't anything she could do to help him until she could figure out what way was up.

~"You're not so weak after all," Itachi muttered irritated, knowing the medical nin was neither injured, nor hurt, merely disorganized. She climbed to her unsteady feet and stared at him as he stood over the Mist nin, a kunai in one hand, ready to be aimed and thrown at any time. "So where's my little brother?" He asked dangerously, voice as even and emotionless as both brother's were known for.

~"Right here."

~Sakura's head darted to the man molding from the darkness, making his very angry presence known. He was followed in suit by her best blond friend and crying out happily, the pinkette raced to them, Naruto's expectant arms clutched to her so tightly she was sure he was going to squeeze the life out of her.

~"You..._you_!" The Dobe snarled, hugging her even tighter if that was at all possible, unable to finish his emotional sentence without breaking down into tears and looking like a complete idiot. He held her head to his chest and brushed his nose through her curly, wet locks, smelling the entirely feminine scent of her sweat and body. He didn't want to let her go and if it wasn't for Sakura's attempt to pull away he never would have.

"Sasuke," she whispered, voice laced with worry and the dark haired Shinobi slightly inclined his head towards her, a hard smile almost like a pained grimace graced the corners of his lips. "We will talk as soon as I kill him," he paused as if suddenly thinking of something, "I'm glad you're alive, Sa-ku-ra." The way he said her name made her shiver deliciously, but she pushed it from her mind as Naruto shoved her gently behind him in protection.

~"Little brother, I'm surprised to see you."

~"_Don't_!" Sasuke hissed, "don't _ever_ call me that again! You don't deserve to call me that, you sick _bastard_!" His hand twitched mere inches above the hilt of his sword, wanting so badly to slice it across that damn smirk Itachi had glued to his face.

~"Good, you still hate me. Have you gotten stronger though?" He threw Sasuke a lethal glare, "the last time we met, I was not impressed, _little brother_."

~Sasuke nostrils flared and he flickered forward too quick for the eye to see, but his scream of fury echoed throughout the clearing. He dodged a thrown shuriken by his brother and landed the first blow, slicing at the man's waist, but was enraged when all he managed to cut through was Itachi's now empty cloak that suddenly sprang forward as a dozen midnight black crows squawked and scattered. The man had evaded the attack and was now behind the younger Uchiha, forming a genjutsu hand sign and inhaling deep. A sickeningly hot, blue blaze raged forth, ready to strike Sasuke in the back, and before the angry inferno smashed into the younger he darted away, slicing again and missing.

~Naruto shielded his loved one from the smothering heat, seeing her fear. She was afraid for Sasuke, feeling the overwhelming waves of Itachi's dark chakra literally pouring out of every orifice the ma possessed, knowing full well that these two were matched tit for tat in nearly every attack they had and could do, leaving everything down to luck and experience.

~The Kunoichi silently begged for Ganimaru to wake up from her exhausted slumber, wanting so badly to delve into the goddess' power and use it to help her loved one, but every time she searched out the Siren in her mind, she always came up irritatingly empty. It was as if the very goddess herself no longer existed inside her. Her mind was eerily empty and void of power and something inside Sakura forced her to wonder if the god she had begun to rely on had in fact suddenly disappeared. She prayed she was wrong.

~A sickening feeling grew in the pit of her stomach as every blurring movement she was forced to endure grew more and more lethal. More deadly. There was no stopping the fighting brothers, this battle had been set in stone years ago and wouldn't end until one of them was dead, Sakura just prayed it wasn't going to be Sasuke.

~Underneath where his red clouded cloak had sat, Itachi wore a tight black shirt and thick ebony colored pants that clung to his thin frame, offering little protection against any weapon he should come across, though he had to be hit first to need that kind of protection and with the older Uchiha's incredible speed, it was obvious to those who looked on that that type of guard wasn't needed.

~The two brothers fought back and forth with all kinds of genjutsus, some none of the on looking ninjas had seen before and likely learned in their absences, and while in the company of others. Sasuke fought hard to combine his attacks with Kusanagi, lacing the incredibly sharp blade with ferocious flaming pillars that shot and sputtered from the tip of the weapon, haphazardly landing wherever they fell and in one instance Naruto had to scoop up the still weakened Kunoichi to keep her from the all consuming blaze.

~"You've gotten better," Itachi murmured, forming a hand sign and three shadow clones separated themselves from his body.

~"_Shut up_!" The youngest Uchiha screamed, leaping forward and taking down one of the first clones, but he'd let his anger get the best of him, realizing only a minute too late the infuriating smirk the clone carried. As Kusanagi landed and cleanly sliced in half, part of Itachi's torso going one direction while the other flew differently, the shadow liquid that seeped out suddenly bubbled and exploded, throwing Sasuke back. He yelped shortly 6as his ragdoll body was flung to the ground and bobbled a few times, but refused to give his brother the satisfaction of seeing him cry out, a moment later springing to his feet before Itachi had the chance to extinguish him.

~Menacing laughter tore through the air, forcing Sasuke to dart his eyes towards the maddening noise and was kicked backwards by the sandaled foot of another shadow clone just as it too exploded.

~Sakura screamed and reached out for the fallen Shinobi, held back by Naruto's vise-like grip as he struggled to shield the woman from suriken shrapnel that flew in every direction with the earth shattering blasts. She felt her knees growing weaker and they buckled beneath her as fat, heavy tears sprang to her eyes and flittered down her cheeks, "no! Please stop it! Don't kill him!"

~Sensing Sakura's pain, Naruto gripped to her tighter and dodged away from the final clone's blast, listening to her heart wrenching screams. She wanted to stay with Sasuke, couldn't bear to see him fighting like this and losing so badly, if nothing was done about it soon she knew as well as the Dobe did that the black haired Shinobi was going to be killed.

~Sasuke felt his head spinning, the force of the explosions had rocked him to his core and he inwardly cursed himself for being so stupid and making such a rookie mistake. He laid on the ground holding his aching chest, hoping that there wasn't too much internal damage done, but he wasn't able to catch his stolen breath for long as Itachi came down on him fast and hard, picking up the fallen brother by his hair and throwing him towards the forest. A deafening crash broke through the sounds of the burning clearing and Sasuke sluggishly pulled himself out of the wreckage of an ancient tree, feeling a few broken ribs grinding around in his chest, but he couldn't stop this now, refusing to admit any kind of defeat.

~Blood dribbled down his chin and he choked down a cough threatening to come up with a short laugh that caused him to wince, "is that all you have?" His older brother's eyebrow shot up as voided expression came over his placid face and they glared at each other fiercely.

~"No! Naruto, please! I can't leave him, he needs my healing, he's going to die!" Sakura struggled in the blond's grip, fighting to get away.

~"Do… do you love him that much?" This question froze Sakura stiff in her friend's arms.

~"What?"

~"Do you love that bastard so blindly that you would risk your life and the life of your kid for him?" His eyes were shadowed by his hair and the pinkette didn't know how to answer. She couldn't answer, afraid that the answer that was playing on her lips would wound the poor, devoted Shinobi.

~"Please, Naru. Let me save him-"

~"Answer the damn question, Sakura! Do you love him?" The sound of choking filled Sakura's ears, knowing it was the younger Uchiha and more tears poured down her face, but she'd finally stopped struggling.

~"Yes, more than my own life…"

~Itachi held Sasuke on his knees by the younger man's hair, tightening his handful sized clump and making the all ready wincing boy groan. He leaned in close to his brother's ear and whispered low, "I'm going to kill you now. I've given you the chances to kill me, but you're still pathetic and weak, it's time I scrubbed you away." Itachi lifted Sasuke's gaze to his own, readying his Mengekyo for one final assault, but from the corner of his eyes he saw a chakra blast coming his direction and had to leap for cover before it landed.

~Sasuke felt himself falling, unable to stop the descent and not really wanting to. He hated everything about his whole being, for not being strong enough, for falling steadily short every time he battled his brother. It wasn't fair to him, they had been friends… actual brothers when he was young, he couldn't understand for the life of him why that suddenly changed. He wanted to know why Itachi had done it, the burning desire to know and to avenge those murdered raged inside him so hot he could only see himself killing his brother. There was nothing he wanted more and wouldn't allow himself the luxury of getting anything less, no one would stand in his way no matter what and if he didn't die today, he would be right back to finding a way to kill his older brother. Nothing meant more than that; not a person, not a feeling, not a need, if he had to give up everything in his life to achieve this one goal, he was willing to pay that price.

~Naruto crushed his fist into Itachi's face, sensing his cheek bone shatter underneath the flesh, but instead of the Dobe's victim allowing himself to be thrown back to avoid more damage, the oldest remaining Uchiha forced his whole body to remain rigid intensifying the damage dealt and allowing him to give the next blow.

~Bringing his hands up to the shocked blond, Itachi grabbed Naruto by the throat and dove into the boy's mind using his Mengekyo, sifting through the memories and smiling painfully when he found the Shinobi's past rittled with hurtful memories. They were perfect to use against him and as the Sharingan user bombarded his blond captive's brain with intense waves of mind numbing pain from within, Naruto screamed like a maniacal dying animal, his trapped demon fighting to keep control of his flickering chakra threatening to pour out.

~The pinkette covered her ears and shook violently as her friend howled. She had to do something, even though she was weakened and about ready to fall over from cold and chakra loss. Even though Ganimaru seemed to have abandoned her, she needed to save the men in her life that meant the most. Blurring through the trees and leaping into the clearing she saw Naruto huddled into the fetal position, eyes open and mouth agape in silent screams while visions of his past raced through his mind and froze him useless. Sasuke was lying face down in the rain soaked grass as his brother stood over him with Kusanagi aimed for the boy's neck.

~"_No_!" Sakura bellowed, flickering forward with such speed, even Itachi hadn't noticed her coming. She grabbed Sasuke's shoulders and pulled him to her chest, shielding him with her own body from the coming blade. There was a few dredging seconds that went by as she waited for the sting and pain that she was sure was coming, but when she slowly opened her eyes and turned her face away from the soaked black locks of the man she loved, her gaze drifted to the sullen Akatsuki member standing limply behind her just simply watching.

~He'd never seen anyone with that amount of reckless abandon before, this Kunoichi was willing to risk her life and the life of her children for his weaker younger brother. She valued his life above all else and in her jade green iris pools, Itachi saw an emotion he didn't think was possible for any of the Uchihas to be given. There was always respect, sometimes jealous hatred, but never… love. This pink haired, god-toting ninja Itachi had now placed as Sakura Haruno from her earlier memories, was absolutely, irrevocably, insanely, stupidly, in love with his younger brother and was now carrying an advancement to a family line he had fought to squelch years ago. He didn't know what to do or what to say, everything suddenly held a higher meaning then there had been before and without realizing it, Itachi dropped Kusanagi with a light clattering to the earth.

~Sakura's eyes widened, continuing to clutch tight to the father of her unborn children. She didn't think in her wildest dreams that she was going to get out of this alive, there had been too many close calls and not enough good luck of late to allow her the freedom to imagine anything better than her dying in an effort to protect one who had a purpose in life.

~Itachi saw Sasuke twitch in the Kunoichi's arms and gather enough strength to lift himself up slightly, grabbing Sakura's arm tightly and pulling his gaze eyelevel with his older brother's. His blood red Sharingan eyes glared lethally up at him, warning him angrily that if one hair was harmed on the woman's head there would be hell to pay for it.

~The older frowned, the blood trickling from his nose and swollen, splitting cheekbone slowly drying on his face. He had come here for a reason and whether his brother was here or not he was going to finish it, disallowing anymore interruptions while he finished his goal.

~A perfectly manicured hand with black nail polish darted forward and grabbed Sakura's shirt, yanking her back, hoisting her into his grip. She struggled against him for a moment, but froze when he leaned in close to her ear to whisper, "cause me any more problems, little Goddess, and I'll tear my brother apart while you watch." Her fight ceased instantly and she gave Sasuke a pleading look, seeing the fiery anger coursing through the younger man as he tried to climb to his feet.

~"L-leave… her-her alone," Sasuke managed to get on one knee, using it for support while his free arm wrapped around his screaming chest. Every movement he made opened another floodgate of blossoming pain, but all he focused on was Itachi holding _his_ pinkette, seeing the Uchiha elder trace tiny circles over the fishnetted skin of her belly where his children lie. The action nearly drove him crazy and without forethought to his own health, Sasuke flung himself at his brother in a crazed attempt to free Sakura.

~Itachi closed his eyes boredly and slammed his hand into Sasuke's face, the oddly resounding sound bounced off everything and came ringing back savagely. Everyone paying attention was shocked to see the black haired, white clothes clad Shinobi fall to his knees from the slapping blow, reaching up a partially gloved hand to touch the angry red mark forming there.

~"Stay down, little brother. If you want your little maiden alive and well, I suggest you heed my advice and become stronger like I told you to, because the next time we meet. One of us will die, and for this one's sake," he inclined his head towards the shaking Sakura, "you better hope it's me." In an instant he was gone, having teleported miles away to places unknown, even his fading chakra was mindlessly leaving and left no trace it had even been there.

~Sasuke inhaled sharply, more blooming pain coursing through him and sending waves of hot lava through his veins, leaving him a barely functioning blob of heated flesh and infuriated emotions. He wanted to chase them, to rip Sakura from the Shinobi's grasp, and tear Itachi apart, but again he'd fallen short. All his energy left him suddenly and he fell forward, cheek touching the soaking grass and wetting his ebony hair. Thoughts raced through his mind in a fast forwarded fashion, reeling flashes of pictures from his past blurring together with the impossible until he was almost dizzy.

* * *

xXx

* * *

~_"Sasuke!" Sakura was calling his name, her cherry sweet voice rang in his ears gently, almost like tinkling bells. If he had been old enough to notice it at the time he might've stayed behind to listen to it more, but he was Sasuke Uchiha, a hardened child and broken soul, he couldn't show signs of weakness or affection, even toward someone he felt some kind of bonded connection to._

_~The academy aged ninja in training shoved his hands further into his pockets and pretended not to hear her, but she was fast for a preteen girl and easily caught up to him in a moment. Her left hand reached up to grab his shoulder and there was a second where Sasuke felt his mind shift and then freeze, her touch was soft and inviting, almost feather light. If he wasn't so stuck up and hardened, he'd had allowed her to linger a minute more, yet his icy walls built higher around his heart and he blocked the woman out, shrugging away from her cruelly._

* * *

xXx

* * *

_~Naruto always ogled over Sakura Haruno, his aqua blue eyes glazing over in ecstatic emotion when the younger pinkette of their team showed up for their training with Kakashi. Sasuke at times felt odd pangs of jealousy spark through him whenever the doting affection the blond Dobe could freely express was given the upmost attention, though it was always short lived when the raven haired boy remembered he wasn't allowed to feel such weak emotions. Then Sakura would laugh and Sasuke was stuck being jealous all over again. He couldn't understand the effect this slip of a Kunoichi had over him, he wanted to see her smile, be the reason for that little bit of happiness. He wanted to make her laugh, that bubbling sound that would make her emerald eyes sparkle with delight. So many times he wished he had the courage to show her how he felt, but his dark cloud of vengeance seemed to hang in close like a somber tapestry in a bright and cheery room, constantly darkening his thoughts and shutting everything else out. When Sasuke would pull himself away from the listless, cloudy haze of blissful ignorance they seemed to encompass themselves in, he realized how lonely his life was and how it would become, thinking about the future if only for a moment as it filled with darkness and hatred. Without some kind of a light, he was sure he was going to drown in the abyss of empty cold that continued to loom over him like a bad nightmare._

* * *

xXx

* * *

_~"Sasuke!" The young, not quite five year old pinkette shrieked shrilly and came gallivanting down the green park hill, her hands tightly clasping some tattered remains of string. Tears crawled down her flushed cheeks and tiny, childish, rose colored lips were formed into a pouty frown. It was plainly obvious to anyone who looked on that this little girl had had something catastrophic happen to her and in Sasuke's still adolescent, naïve mind, he felt an odd overwhelming need to help her._

_~"My kite," she murmured almost incoherently, handing the raven haired boy her kite's stringy skeleton. He blinked a few times, registering not only her words, but also their meaning._

_~"Show me where it is," and in a flash the little girl had taken off, an ebony head in tow as the young girl led him to the criminal tree holding hostage her beloved kite._

_~Sasuke awed for a brief moment the wood's immense size, wondering how he was possibly going to get up to their goal, but in his mind he set himself and reached for the first branch and then the next. Minutes later, the youngest Uchiha found he had scaled half the tree, but was still nowhere nearer to the kite. His head processed everything like lightning, hastening his pace to get to Sakura's lost toy, though as time dredged passed he found himself still so far away._

_~"Sakura!" He yelled, eyes glancing down to the small rosette and gasped at the height, even the girl's small frame seemed microscopic from the dizzying altitude._

_~For an agonizing second, Sasuke was terrified, but cool repose sunk down into him slowly, taking with it his fear. This wasn't a memory… couldn't have been, there wasn't a happy time before Itachi's betrayal that he remembered ever helping the bubbly pinkette. He hadn't met her until after his family's massacre, not until she saved him from his mental drowning that night in the pouring street._

_~"That's because you're not remembering… you're dying." It sounded vaguely like his own voice, but he couldn't have been sure as the last words poured in from the abyss, the now swirling vortex of his surrounding dream was rapidly shifting. The tree disappeared, sending him jetting through the hazy darkness, falling through the vorpal as he flailed out to grab for anything. Suddenly, a pair of blood red irises sprang open from the veiling gloom and bore through the falling Uchiha. There was no doubt the eyes belonged to Itachi, the Mengekyo Sharingan of his brother was slowly sinking deep into the crevices of Sasuke's brain, sinking him not only deeper into the oblivion, but further under the spell of the red eyes._

_~"You will die here, baby brother, alone and in pain." A heaviness grew in the raven haired Shinobi's skull, pressing like a gigantic weight and ripping the confines of his cerebral cortex to pieces. Thoughts jumbled in frantic disarray, shattering Sasuke's repose while white hot flames of searing anguish doubled him into the fetal position, clutching to his throbbing templesn as a dying animal's cry escaped his lips. For once in his life he was actually powerless to do anything to save himself, fear trickling like a plaguing sickness into the pit of his stomach. He was terrified for Sakura, fearing for their unborn children, needing to break his mind free of this spell's torture to get to her._

_~Something soft then caressed the excruciating throb in his fore head, bringing the Shinobi from his writhing reverie. His Sharingan eyes met emotional, uncut jade and in them he found an instant calm, feeling the pain begin to subside as gentle fingers ran through his raven locks._

_~"Find me," the pinkette whispered, her outline growing fuzzy and gray. She trailed her fingers down his arm tenderly as some force from the abyss grabbed her from behind and yanked her away visciously, until her whole body disappeared into the blackness, leaving no trace that she'd ever been there._

* * *

~Sasuke opened his eyes one last time before unconsciousness completely took him over. He looked over at Naruto's trembling form, hearing him bawl out Sakura's name, pleading with her unhearing ghost to return to him. They both were such pathetically sad Shinobi's; one couldn't love anyone else except a soft spoken, quick to temper Kunoichi, while the other spent so long running from her he ended up falling right back into her. She was the sunlight while they were the flowers, without her warmth and light, they wilted and began to wither. Without Sakura, Sasuke was sure he would die… she was slowly becoming his reason to feel again. Because she lived, he felt his insides begin to come back to life. With her around, her wasn't so hallow and his frigid heart that had, for years, felt nothing but an arctic chill suddenly warmed slightly more than before and his heart beat in his chest… All for her… Because she was alive…

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~Author's Note – You can all throw bad Aubrey cookies at me now and some popcorn and tomatoes, I'm sorry for having mad you wait so long. Been "out of service" for a little while, shouldn't happen too often, but I am changing my life's schedule around a tad and trying to get things back on track. Lotsa of love, please critique and for the love of all that is holy! PPL IF YOU FIND A GRAMMAR SPELLING MISTAKE, what have you, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Put it in your review and tell me so I can change it right on the spot! Thank you and please do review, the last chapter didn't make very many and these are my life's blood to writing some days. The more reviews I get the more I write for the next chapter and the more inclined I am to write faster! I even enjoy random reviews from the SAME ppl, asking if I'm dead or something X.x;; Sorry I've been needing an ego boost lately, and haven't gotten one x.x Wah! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX


	22. Sympathy for the Devil

Author's Note – Well, another chapter. Merry Christmas all who celebrate it and Happy Holidays for those who don't. I celebrate X-Mas, I say Merry Christmas, please do remember this Holiday season for those who are _offended_ when you don't celebrate and someone says, that holiday farewell to you.

You are absolutely allowed to reply when the words Merry Christmas are spoken, "Thank you," smile, "Happy Hanukah/Kwanza/Holidays." Whatever your faith or choice, because those people that are your tellers through this_ joyous_ (-_-;;) holiday season could quite possibly be your shotgun toting mail carries tomorrow. Please take note of this and always be courteous and loving through these hard and _slightly_ difficult times.

So! MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS -_-;;

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Disclaimer: I thoust hast not taken thus ownership of Naruto, you cads… _Translation:_ I DON'T OWN IT MOFOS!

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**Chapter 22**  
**Sympathy For the Devil**

_"The Devil that mourns as he holds in all  
his secrets, is simply a misunderstood child."_

_Lady A.R.R.O._

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~The all too familiar feeling of a teleportation jutsu tore through Sakura's body, one minute she was fighting to protect her dark haired ex-team member, the man who had caused her so much grief these passed months, and the next moment the woman was clutching her abdomen. She doubled forward from the nauseated feelings burning their way up her throat and jerked away from the Akatsuki member before he had a chance to pull her back. Her knees buckled, dropping her to the cold, hard dirt, throwing up the contents of her earlier meal, receiving a sidelong glance from her captor. When her gut was empty, she continued to dry heave, nearly falling into the mess she'd made, but a hand held on tight to her shirt and kept her grounded through her sickening ordeal.

~"You won't do this every time, I hope? It would make for a very long… disgusting, trip." He didn't help her to her unsteady feet when she'd finally finished, leaving her to make his way a few yards towards an opening in the forest's tree line.

~"I'm pregnant, you idiot! These jutsus could harm them!" The sudden boiling over of rage forced her to react without thinking about the consequences and Itachi flickered to her side in an instant, wrapping his fingers tightly around her throat.

~"Teleportation is the least of your worries at this moment," he hissed, eyes the color of molten red lava and released her harshly, watching her slip back to her knees, resting there as she choked on precious oxygen. His sandaled feet took him only a few steps away, looking around for something seemingly lost, head turning from side to side in search of it. He drifted a little bit further and suddenly panic welled up inside the pinkette Kunoichi as she scrambled onto her hands and knees.

~"W-where are you going!" Inwardly she cursed herself for acting like a small child. She had wanted to portrait the strong, unfeeling Kunoichi she knew she was, but something inside her seemed lacking and without it she was desperately afraid.

~Shakily rising to her full height, the shivering aftershocks of her second's ago ordeal rocked her core muscles and made her weak, though she refused to show this despicable man any kind of shortfall. If it killed her, she was going to be strong, giving away nothing of herself no matter how hard he pressed.

~"I managed to get us about three days teleport from Sound, but if you insist on your_ delicate_ nature," his voice dripped with hiding venom, "it'll take us more than two weeks journey on foot." He growled inwardly when he reached for his missing cloak, without its foreboding presence the ninjas around these areas would not be afraid to pick a fight, even though Itachi's overwhelming chakra should have been enough to make even high classed Hunter nin run in terror. Besides, the cloak made him feel less irritatingly nude, its absence had caused quite a stir in his normally placid demeanor, denting his all ready angry disposition.

~His hands moved into a strange jutsu Sakura didn't know, the pupils of his red eyes swirled and pulsed angrily as a descending flock of midnight black crows passed the Kunoichi by, their wings like sharp blades that stung her exposed flesh where they struck. They gave a few frightening caws and shrieks to the medical nin and melded themselves against the oldest Uchiha, collecting together to form a new Akatsuki robe.

~Itachi brushed his manicured fingers down the cloak's front, glad for the _fabric_ to have been replaced. He was about to turn and make ready the chakra needed for another teleportation, but a tiny feminine sound escaped his prisoner's lips. Eyes moved up to her gaze, catching the shocked expression that raced across face, and then he felt _it_. Something wet and warm floated down his cheek and dribbled off his jaw line. He knew it was blood, knew it had come from his quickly deteriorating orbital sockets, and knew soon they would always bleed and his sight would be gone. Time was of the essence for him.

~"What's wrong?" She whispered, the closeness of her voice startled the rouge nin briefly, he hadn't heard her move closer, not even her chakra had shifted. This Kunoichi was proving to be more than what she appeared to be, an enigma he had yet to fully understand no matter how much soul searching he had put her through.

~Her hand came up with a mind of its own and brushed away the red essence, smearing it across his cheeks and taking note of the slight milky fog just underneath the surface of his motionless Mengekyo. "You're going blind, aren't you?" She sounded so innocent in her question, there was no hidden agenda behind her words, not like from other female Kunoichis he had met in his travels. This pinkette honestly wanted to know.

~"Yes." Nothing more said, there wasn't any reason to drag out the answer they both all ready knew.

~She wiped away the remainder, surprised by how much Sasuke looked like his elder brother. They had the same expressions, similar features, the same raven blue/black locks that ran wild when unkempt, and even had _almost_ the same colored irises that hid all of their emotions. There was no denying they were family in some way or another, of the same stock, the same breed, brothers in both relation and in career choices. That fact stood out like florescent paint on a black canvas. This was Sasuke's brother, the man who murdered his entire family in cold blood save the youngest Uchiha and left punishment to join a group of other murder happy rouges, all of this without explanation.

~A question played on Sakura's dusty rose colored lips, Itachi could see it. Racing thoughts crossed her deep emeralds, going through the consequences in seeking an answer. Her hand fell from his face and slowly drifted to her hip, but their eyes remained locked as she licked her lips nervously, "why did you do it?"

~Itachi's set expression twitched slightly, his eyes narrowing, "that isn't something someone like you should be privy to." He turned away, leaping for a nearby tree branch and left the pinkette alone to her strange thoughts.

~" 'Someone like you'," she repeated vindictively, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and turning away from his swiftly dwindling presence. If he wanted to run around like a maniac, hiding from punishment like a coward and felt a slip of a Kunoichi's presence was too overwhelming, than he could just stay gone. He was just as sickeningly infuriating as his little brother and for the moment, while roaring rage screamed through her thoughts, Sakura didn't care that this man was an S-Class missing nin. She stormed away, knowing he wouldn't allow her to escape, but likely wouldn't come too close for awhile.

~"Oh, this is conducive to getting to where you're kidnapping me off to faster," her voice held venomous sarcasm and she stormed off haughtily, hardly taking note of the new chakra signature that had suddenly appeared only a few yards off. In some small way, Sakura could have blamed her _lack_ of concentration on Ganimaru's _lack_ of residual consciousness that had clouded her hazy brain in a fog of protection, but she blamed it on the hormonal imbalance forced upon her through less than expected avenues. When she slammed into the hard chest of someone _much_ taller than herself, her eyes widened and she slowly looked up into the beady, piercing gaze of a blue Akatsuki member. Her blood had turned to ice and froze her still under his attention, this man was a murderer, his eyes told her so.

~His black and red clouded cloak hugged his tallish frame and he grinned down at the startled Kunoichi like some kind of… _fanged fish_. It was uncanny how suddenly this _man_, if he could have been called that, appeared so like that of Suigetsu. Sure, the two Shinobis had their differences, but this man seemed so familiar it almost made Sakura's head hurt.

~"I've found a little minnow," the blue man whispered with a toothy grin. He had shark teeth and the headband he wore had the symbol of Mist scratched out upon its face plate. "You look good enough to eat."

~Sakura flailed out in terror, her instincts moving faster than her thoughts would allow. She punched the Mist nin back, watching in muted horror when he easily recovered from her super human blow without so much as a mark. He was insanely strong and the gigantic sword strapped to his back didn't help curb his frightening appeal any. This man was a bloodied warrior in league with men at the caliber level of Itachi, that fact alone gripped her chest so tight it hurt. If Naruto or Sasuke did attempt to come to her rescue, which she knew they likely would when they recovered some from the injuries inflicted upon them, they would come waltzing into a war zone, the likes of which neither Shinobi of Team 7 had ever seen before… and they were going to die.

~"Now that's not nice," the shark breathed out in a chuckle, rubbing his knuckle across the place where the woman's fist had landed. She had some bite in her, he gave her that, but she was weaker, so much so that she felt like nothing more than a harmless fish to him, albeit a very cute, juicy looking fish.

~"Hitting men you don't know is just rude, not a good way to say hello," he saw her shudder and raise her hands to her face, a scared gesture he knew in women to be uncontrolled. Somehow, all girls of the ninja way or not felt that hiding their face would protect them, make them seem more vulnerable, thus less of a target. What Kisame found hilarious was just how much _more_ of an appealing victim they made when they acted all innocent and terrified, their trepidation made him want to kill them more.

~"Kisame," Itachi's cloaked form dropped in from the top tree line and he fell in step beside Sakura, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to stave off his teammate. His Sharingan eyes seemed to flicker angrily towards the sword wielder and the man opposite them shook his head and raised his hands in mocking surrender.

~"Sorry, didn't know she was your kill. I just smelled a Kunoichi and her chakra, thought I'd follow it," he let his left hand fall back to his hip, while the other went to rest easily on the hilt of his blade, the most comfortable position for the man to stand in and Itachi knew the stance to be only out of habit rather than a threat.

~"She's not," Itachi breathed, his irritation shown through his subtle quiescent pastoral. He didn't feel he needed to elaborate more to a fish and didn't respond to the questioning look the man gave him, it wasn't anyone's business to know what he wanted with a pretty, pink haired woman and as far as it concerned him he wasn't going to tell anyone why he had her.

~"She's tainted, you know? All ready been stuffed if you know what I mean," Kisame cackled at his own joke, the vulgarity of his words furrowing Itachi's eyebrows. "Her body reeks of it," he turned his nose to the air and sniffed again, causing the medical nin instinctively lower her hands to her stomach when he eyed her swelling belly hungrily.

~"She smells kinda like…" He paused when the gears in his head began turning, but the conclusion he came to almost made him jump. "You."

~Itachi felt his tense muscles slowly unclench, he was glad his brother had so many similarities to him, maybe that included his scent. It made for things to be less complicated, though he didn't quite know how this conclusion was any less obscure, except that with her being pregnant and the off chance that Kisame spread it around as the child being his own, no one would even think to lay a finger on the woman. She would be successfully protected and the only person he would have to answer to was Pein, though the red haired, pierced second in command could mind his own damn business should anything go too far.

~"You sly dog, Itachi. I never thought you would have had it in you to be so well read on women, let alone to become a dad," Kisame was of course being sardonic, he had no real interest in the situation aside from the news that his partner wasn't in fact dead.

~"Leave it, Kisame," Itachi said lowly, his voice almost a growl and the shark man nodded in complete understanding, he knew when not to take a joke too far unless he really wanted to die. Instead, he turned his attention away from the pinkette Kunoichi and back towards the Uchiha.

~"We've been summoned back to the hideout, apparently Pein and Konan have captured a Jinchuriki," his moment's ago façade of laughing cynicism had melted away to a visage of total serious control. He knew when matters of the Jinchurikis were afoot, it was no joking matter and the man knew as such, taking extra precautions, especially around his always emotionless partner.

~Itachi nodded knowingly, he'd received word from his ring a few days ago and had only continued towards Konoha because he knew his own personal mission was more important. "Yes." He turned his gaze towards the shocked Kunoichi and felt her whole body stiffen at the mention of a Jinchuriki, she probably wondered if in some small infantismal way if she knew who the container was. She knew three of the nine now and though chances were slim she knew who the one in custody was, it didn't lessen or fears.

~"We should be off then," Kisame suggested, taking note only slightly of Sakura's reaction. His attention was no longer on her. In fact, now that she was shown in light to be Itachi's property, he wanted nothing else to do with the woman lest it anger his partner, and that was a fate worse than death.

~Without another word, the taller Akatsuki member blurred off, knowing his comrade would be swift to follow and he was right, moments later, after gathering Sakura up in his grasp he jetted off in pursuit, feeling her grip tighten inexplicably on his collar to keep from falling.

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20 Naruto Uzumaki Age: 20**

* * *

~At first the rays of sunlight through the open window stung the young Shinobi's eyes and forced him to look away, but he realized his head was forced into one position and refused to allow him movement. There was a panicky second of irritation that let loose into a full barraging wave of restrained horror when the blond struggled fruitlessly to get free and at length gave up, succumbing to complete silence.

~"Dobe, you idiot. Why did you wake me up?" Sasuke's cold voice broke through the room and made Naruto inch, what tiny bit he could in the contraption he was in, towards the sound.

~"What's going on, Sasuke?" Naruto sounded pathetic and tried to move his arms, but found those too immobile, leaving him a motionless mess of bone and flesh, blinded completely by the in pouring sunlight.

~There was a rustling sound to Naruto's left that he took for Sasuke moving and suddenly the light was cut off, easing the blond's eyesight into the now shadowed room. They were in a what looked like one of the interrogation rooms the ANBU used with criminals, except now it'd been changed into a hospital room and everywhere Uzumaki looked all he saw was medical equipment.

~Finally, he got a good look at the metal apparatus caging his movements and discovered he was tethered down like a wild animal in a chakra scrolled barrel, much like the one used to help contain Kyuubi when the demon decided to go on rampages.

~"Why the hell am I in this?" Naruto shouted, gaining only an angry scowl from his roommate, "Teme! Why am I in this?"

~"You really don't remember?" Sasuke brooded, carefully hobbling back to his uncomfortable bed Tsunade had ordered be brought in this dank place for the males of Team 7. His leg had been shattered and right arm nearly crushed under his own damn body weight when Itachi had thrown him to the ground. Tsunade looked optimistic about his recovery, but the Uchiha knew there would be permanent damage done to the bones even after they healed. They likely would never be as strong as they once had been before and according to the Sennin woman, he would have a long road of rehabilitation on his hands if he wanted to bring the damage down to a minimum. Except Sasuke didn't have a long time to get better, he had until he could walk to the bathroom on his own without falling over to heal before he went after Itachi. He was going to get Sakura back no matter what. She couldn't be allowed to die a second time, not because of his weakness and he was _going_ to get her back if he had to sell his soul for it.

~Sasuke was about to tell Naruto why he was in the chakra barrel when a low rap on the door paused them both to silence, not a second later followed by Tsunade, Shizune, and a rather exhausted looking Kakashi entering the room. Since the two Shinobi had been imprisoned here like kenneled dogs, the only people Sasuke had been able to see were these three, though mostly Tsunade. Just from the little reports he overheard in the hallway when the Hokage left to speak to some ANBU guards, the Uchiha had gathered that Kakashi had been out searching with the other specialized teams to find Sakura Haruno. It apparently had been made village-wide that she was still alive, though everyone was sure it wouldn't matter at all if anyone of importance did find out, the worst had happened all ready. The only reason for the fake funeral was to prevent anyone searching for the gods, like Team Taka had been doing, from getting a hold of the pinkette and killing her. With her now under the control of Itachi Uchiha of the Akatsuki, there was really no reason to hide anything from the Shinobis and Kunoichis out searching for her. The one who seemed most grateful for the farse was Choji, he didn't have to be used as Ino's handkerchief any longer and was nearly glad to be rid of the hormonal woman until she was told under whose grip she was in now, that gave way to more torrential tidal waves of tears and Choji was again forced to be the human snot rag once again.

~Hinata had been relieved that her friend was still alive, though from the momentary glance the day before while the young Hyuuga was taking care of a still unconscious Jinchuriki, she wasn't overly excited about Sakura's news of life as she should have been, leading Sasuke to believe she held feelings for the stupid Dobe that the blond didn't exactly return or seem to have any knowledge of.

~Then there were the others, mostly Shikamaru, Kiba, Lee, Neji, and some kid named Sai who seemed happy from the news, though they held it in better the others did and were of the first teams sent in search of Sakura with Kakashi, Anko, and Gai. It was amazing the amount of pull it seemed little Sakura held on so many people's emotions and lives, that it made Sasuke feel like some kind of disgusting spider that needed to be smashed, due to his selfishness in keeping her away when he knew he should have let her go.

~"How are you feeling today, Sasuke?" Shizune was the first to speak of the three and came forward to take her patient's pulse and temperature, though it was hard when the raven haired Shinobi yanked away his unharmed appendage and moved away from his doctor's reach.

~"Don't touch me," he growled out finally and leaned his back against the cement wall, sardonically staring straight ahead and through the others blocking his view of the opposite side of the room.

~"Knock it off, Uchiha. If I have to do it myself, you'll regret it," Tsunade threatened, which didn't in the least bit frighten him, but he allowed Shizune to do her job and continue on with her inspection of Naruto, who was smiling rather cheesily like some cat that had gotten into the milk.

~"How are you feeling today, Naruto? You seem awake and alert," the older blond woman went to stand next to him to check the chakra tags on the metal barrel holding his demon within him until the tag on his soul could be fixed.

~Naruto wiggled slightly, almost forgetting he couldn't give his traditional thumbs up signal, "if I could move I'd be better," he grunted out, realizing his arms were cramped in an awkward position.

~"I have Jiraiya coming in from Waterfall to help me with the jutsu necessary for caging Kuuybi, the seal broke during your mind warp with Itachi and we've spent the latter part of a week trying to repair the damage you did to Konoha," Tsunade said sadly, much to Naruto's shock.

~"I-I tried to destroy Konoha?" All the air left his lungs and he looked sickeningly deflated as Shizune took his pulse and wrote it down on her clipboard.

~"Yea, and you tried to eat Sasuke and I!" The voice from the next room over shouted and clear as day the voice of Suigetsu tore through the morning's somber hangings.

~From the little bits that Sasuke had seen before darkness completely took over, Naruto had released the seal on Kyuubi to break free of the constant battering ram that Itachi had made of his memories and though it seemed obviously clear that the demon hadn't been in the least bit interested in breaking free, much to everyone's surprise, it didn't stop the nine-tails from making heavy destruction upon Konoha out of spiteful anger while it's container was unconscious. Buildings had been destroyed, most namely the Memorial stone that held the fourth Hokage's name etched forever on it, but the chaos didn't end there, aside from the Memorial Stone, the training grounds were smashed to smithereens and Tsunade's tacky office was relocated to somewhere in the middle of Hokage Lake. When everything was said and done, and Naruto was contained by Kakashi, Tsunade, and a couple elders, there was no body count, though the injuries were high.

~Naruto hung his head and the room took on a more depressing glow without the blond's cheery demeanor to light it up. "D…Did I kill anyone?" He murmured almost incoherently.

~"No, though I would strongly advise that you apologize to Ino Yamanka when you're given the next opportunity, her family's flower shop was ruined beyond repair and my office is swimming with the fishes." Tsunade seemed bored with traces of anger lining the edge of her voice, though it sounded more irritated than affronted.

~"Where's Sakura?" Uzumaki hadn't seen the Akatsuki member disappear with the pinkette.

~Tsunade went silent and Shizune looked to the floor, it took Kakashi at length to finally break the silence, "Itachi has her."

~"_WHAT?"_ Naruto's shout rocked the small room and nearly everyone cringed. "We have to get her back!"

~"We have been, Naruto. Nonstop for almost a week now, but the trail is cold," Kakashi explained gently, looking more and more like he was going to fall over. His exhaustion ran not only on the surface but in his muscles and bones too, leaving him feeling drained and lifeless.

~"Get me out of here!" Now the Jinchuriki was rocking back and forth like some crazed maniac, shouting obscenities and struggling to break free of his confines. At first Tsunade attempted to calm him, but found her efforts useless and in the end resorted to smacking him across the head with the gigantic text book Shizune had brought into the room with them.

~The whole scene was a comical point to Sasuke and he would have laughed if he could remember how to, but while the four stood in a tight semi circle, talking and arguing amongst themselves and what the right course of action was, he spent his time plotting of ways to break free. It wasn't going to be an easy feat, and though he was sure it would be one of the more difficult things he'd done, considering himself, Naruto, Team Taka, and that other blasted Jinchuriki were all trapped like rats in this prison hold until they rotted or death got them, which ever came faster.

~"I see that brain of yours working, Sasuke Uchiha!" Tsunade growled out, pointing a young looking finger in his direction, "you're going to stay in here until you heal, I can't have the only Uchiha continuing the heritage line trying to kill himself with a suicide mission."

~"I'm going to save Sakura," the raven haired Shinobi's voice was even and oozed animosity but the Hokage wasn't moved. She was hardly afraid of some runt of a ninja who went off to complete his own agenda rather than thinking of the needs of his village before his own.

~As if to prove his point, Sasuke got to his feet though the effort was wasted when he unsteadily tried to raise himself to his full height and almost fell over with the attempt. He was saved by his old team sensei who grabbed him under the arm and helped to set him back onto his bed, it was an unspoken sign of trust that passed through Sasuke's eyes to the man who helped to raise him into the Shinobi he was today.

~"You will save her," Kakashi started, "we will find her no matter what. Trust us."

~That word. _Trust._ One Sasuke thought had been ripped from his vocabulary and torn to shreds under the malicious reign of terror cause in his mind by his older brother. After so long of just doing everything on his own without help, without the kind words of a friend, he had nearly forgotten just how heavy that one word meant. It hung in the air for a moment while Sasuke turned it over and over again in his head, thoughts running over the sound, the meaning, everything, and then suddenly it clicked inside him and he returned Kakashi's even, one eyed stare. He nodded wordlessly, speaking volumes to the older man without having uttered a single sound. It was the thing the Jounin needed, he had his lost pupil back.

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~She tried the door handle for the millionth time, finding it still unwaveringly locked, set that way by her jailor, Itachi Uchiha that morning upon their arrival to the hidden hideout of the Akatsuki. At first she had been afraid, nearly run over several times by the other equally powerful Shinobi traipsing around the damp entrance to the cave.

~Itachi had been brutal in the pace set to return to the safe haven and it had taken its toll on her, leaving her body for the most part useless to do much of anything but sleep, but she fought the muchly needed desire and struggled in vain to escape this room. She had to figure out who the Jinchuriki was that they had captured, if it was Gaara, she was going to figure out some way to free him no matter what it took.

~"Fuck!" Sakura hissed out when her hair pin bent the wrong way in the lock and forced her to start the picking process all over again from the beginning. The tumblers were old, ones she had never been able to train on before, although she doubted it would have done her much good, she wasn't the type to break into things. Her prowess relied solely on her capabilities as a healer and well-defined chakra control, not how well she could crack a safe or break silently into a house. Besides the obvious point as well, she'd barely paid attention to Kakashi when he was trying to explain this lesson anyway. It was one of the only times it seemed that _both_ Naruto and Sasuke had been paying attention and while the Uchiha was distracted by the intricacies of tumblers and locks, Sakura had spent nearly the entirety of the lesson zoning off into wonderland. Sometimes she wondered how she even became an ANBU medical nin, her most basic lessons had been neglected for daydreams of a cute, silent, obsidian haired boy.

~She continued to scold herself angrily, fighting through the fatigue and starvation, sure she was going to fail again and be forced to give up when the lock suddenly clicked. Everything for a split second froze in Sakura Haruno's world and as the pieces of life fell back into place, she gently pushed the door open with only the slightest bit of effort.

~Glee streamed through her veins as adrenaline shot up her spine, she had to turn on every one of her ninja senses to make it through this unscathed, though she was sure there would be some kind of a fight rumbling up soon and without Ganimaru's reassuring presence, albeit annoying and at times, terrifying, Sakura felt a little deflated. She was on her own for the time being until the Goddess decided to come forward and reveal her whereabouts from the past couple weeks.

~Sakura stole silently into the hall as she masked her chakra, passing by other doors that looked similar to Itachi's own and the pinkette could only wonder what lay in waiting behind them. A door about fifteen feet up and to her right suddenly creaked open and out strode a strange looking…_ thing_… it crawled on all fours, not in the least bit hampered by the swishing Akatsuki robe that hung and dragged across the floor. It was obviously a male from the distinct masculine features, but something seemed unnervingly off about the man that sent a frigid shudder up Sakura's spine. She stole into the shadows, as the man turned to look down the hallway, sensing eyes at his back. His nearly overpowering chakra reeked of blood and sand, almost like someone she knew well and nearly forced her to choke, though she stifled the entirely human urge and managed a silent exhaling of breath.

~He paused for only a moment, seeing nothing in the dim light and continued on down the long, dimly lit corridor. His heavy footfalls banged loud on the floor, echoing a small distance, but it gave Sakura the ability to gauge the distance between her and the _man_, if that's what he could have been called. He reminded the medical nin very closely of something lifeless and dead, with glassy eyes and cold hands. A doll perhaps, maybe even one of those puppets Kankuro used in his fighting style.

~Keeping close to the walls, Sakura carefully proceeded, inching her way around corners and along silent passageways. All seemed motionless and silent, the complete opposite what she had been expecting an underground crime organization full of rouge ninjas to be. There should have been people rustling around like maniacs, keeping guard, watching any and all exits, but as she rounded another corner Sakura realized something. These men were not only good at being killing machines, they were the top of their proverbial class, unlike any others, they didn't need endless guards to protect them. They could defend themselves without all the added manpower a small army of useless drones wouldn't always be able to provide, and if the other men had even a fraction of the power that Itachi had with his Mangekyo Sharingan, they wouldn't have to lift a finger to protect this place.

~Her gut dropped at her own thoughts, freezing in mid stride, caught between trying to mold in a shadow and standing in the dim lamp light. She was just one Kunoichi, against the most powerful Shinobis in all the ninja countries. If there had been even a tiny bit of hope of getting free of this prison, she herself squelched it right there and leaned against the wall, feeling its cold wood against her back. She slid down the barrier and slipped to the floor, racking hopelessness sinking deeply inside heart. There was no escape for her on her own and anyone who came to her aid would be killed and she knew it.

~_"Ganimaru,"_ she whispered softly to the darkness inside her head, _"where are you?"_ Nothing returned to her, leaving the young woman in her own depressed grief.

~Amidst her failing courage and blackening hope, something deep inside Sakura's body twitched, softly at first, almost no lighter than the beating of a hummingbird's wings. It forced the pinkette to look down at her swollen belly, lifting a hand to the ever so slowly distending flesh. She waited a few moments, wondering if the movement had been her own imagination, but then again with the fluttering of butterfly appendages, her insides quaked. Her eyes grew wide in amazed wonder, her free hand flying to her stomach and pressing against the strange new feelings forcing their way into her thoughts.

~"Is that you?" she breathed out, and as if in response the tiny lives that had lain claim to her inside shuddered again, almost bouncing in excitement as Sakura's heartbeat increased tenfold. "We have to get out of here, don't we?" Her voice lowered to an almost inaudible sound, but her unborn children heard and bubbled happily inside her.

~She picked herself up off the floor and edged further down the hall with renewed vigor, careful to not draw any attention to herself as she passed down passageways until she heard the low chanting of voices from another room. Her body was thrown into motion as quiet cautiousness coiled in her gut, she had come too far at this point to turn back, it was here and now that she would try to escape while the backs of her enemies were turned.

~The next room closely resembled a cave, unlike the other areas she had been privy to on her walk to Itachi's room and from it, being the place he'd escorted her through as they entered from the outside. Freedom felt so close she could almost taste it and had she had less sense, she would have raced head long for it while the red cloud cloaked men stood in the center of the room chanting, their attentions elsewhere. But she was a trained ANBU and being reckless like some of the men she knew wasn't an option, no matter how badly she wanted to do it.

~"We seem to be missing two," a strong, male voice piped up, catching Sakura's attention towards the center of the room. The men were cloaked in shadows, their hazy outlines blurred by some sort of jutsu and heavy darkness.

~"Kakuzu and Hidan," one of the other shadows muttered, his monstrous form looking slightly odd and difficult to describe. The only thing that came to mind was something growing like some kind of plant that encompassed the place where his was, with two different shaped eyes the color of greenish gold.

~"Those idiots!" A man came storming in from another room behind the alter where the men were all standing. "We need all of your powers to extract the Jinchuriki! _Why do you never listen when you're all summoned!_" Several men flinched at the volume the voice used, but quickly recovered when a strange sound crackled through the room and a large ball of swirling wind crashed into the cave floor, sending shards of rock flying in every direction. Some bigger shards slammed into grotto's wall and smashed to pieces, causing the shark man, Kisame to duck in cover.

~"_Master_," the monstrous creature with the gold eyes mumbled, managing to be the first gain his composure, "it's been nearly seven years since the entirety of the Akatsuki have been summoned." His two-toned voice rang out clearly as it seemed two men within one body tried to both speak at the same time. "It will take some time."

~This only served to infuriate the leader more and he reached out lethally for the shadowed man who'd dared speak to him in such a manner, wrapping his huge hand around the monster's neck. There was a moment where his victim choked as oxygen fought to be inhaled, but he did nothing to gain freedom, inclining himself to silence in case another outburst send the Akatsuki leader completely over the edge. After a few long, grating moments of held breaths and cautious stares, the monster was dropped and he slithered a good feet's distance away to keep away from his master's grip.

~"Zetsu," the Shinobi in command ground out fiercely, "find them and drag them here, I want this tailed-demon out before the next full moon," he menacingly stepped from the shadows and into the light, a lightning rod of sudden recognition washed over the medical nin and forced her to clasp a hand over her mouth to hold in the frightened gasp. His towering bulk was as tall as he was wide and a lion's mane of long dark gray and black streaked hair ran down his back, ending at his thighs. Two glaring, entirely black eyes without pupils or irises bore holes through the darkness and made some of the Akatsuki members cringe. If it was possible for class-S rouge nins to be afraid, now was probably that moment. Terror washed through Sakura so swiftly it paralyzed her as a film roll of memories streamed through her mind, things she'd never seen before but knew she had experienced. This man was her brother in another life… no, not another life… in the life she shared with someone else. This was Ganimaru's brother, another God like herself, the one even she held with slight cautious fear. He was insanely dangerous, both to the medical nin's health and Ganimaru's should he find her, the memories running through her thoughts told her that much. It was the God of Wind, Kazechi.

~Someone groaned softly and all eyes turned to the center of the room where their captured victim was slowly gaining consciousness. From the disadvantaged angle, Sakura could only see a light blue kimono and a mass of black hair. Though she could tell instantly it wasn't any of the Jinchurikis she knew herself, it didn't ease the tension in her back as she guiltily debated over leaving the nameless container here to escape, but her morality won over and left her trying not to pout while her mind devised a plan to free both of them.

~"Master Kazechi," a fire red haired Shinobi said politely, bowing his pierced face in complete submission, beside him stood a pretty purple headed Kunoichi with a white rose flower in her hair. She seemed as emotionless and silent as Itachi, leaving the medical nin to wonder who she was, though the thoughts drifted away as the rouge nin's meeting seemed to suddenly adjourn and everyone began making their ways back towards the living quarters area of the hideout.

~In a panicked rush, Sakura scrambled silently around, grappling for a place to hide and clamored behind the open door as the shadows enveloped her whole. It took everything she had not to make a sound, fearing that to even breathe would raise an alarm from her enemies.

~The crawling puppet came in first, followed in closely by a short blond man complaining about the differences in exploding art over the construction of _dolls_, to which his partner began a bout of loud hisses and sneers that echoed down the hallway until their fading figures turned a corner and were gone.

~After the arguing duo came the lonesome Kunoichi who couldn't have been more than an inch or two taller than Sakura herself, but held a strange aura about her that seemed neither evil nor good. She, for a split second intrigued the watching pinkette and a moment later also disappeared down the hall just as Itachi and Kisame joined the ranks. They were both quiet, neither one saying a word until the older Uchiha stopped suddenly, requiring his partner to stop.

~"Go ahead," Itachi gave his permission and waited until the shark nin was out of sight before turning to the darkness that blanketed the hiding Kunoichi and she saw his swirling Mengekyo Sharingan piercing through her. "Get out of there and back to the bedroom or I'll drag you there by your hair," his voice startled her, but pushed her swiftly into action, tearing from the hiding spot and ripping around the door. She had no intent of returning to that sparsely furnished bedroom that only housed a black sheeted bed, allowing the rouge Shinobi to do God only knew what to her behind closed doors. Now was the only chance she would likely have of escape and she was going to take it.

~Sakura blurred into the cavernous first room, met by no one as she barreled headfirst for the hideout's entrance, forming the remembered jutsus to open the large boulder blocking the way. If she'd only been stronger and faster she might have made it, but Itachi flickered in front of her and made a grab for her hands, clutching both her much smaller ones into his and nearly crushed her fragile finger bones.

~"Stop!" She cried out as she was lifted off her feet, left to dangle helplessly at the mercy of this heartless murderer, "please let me go!"

~"Be quiet or _He'll_ hear you." It took only a flashing second for Sakura to remember who the _He_ was and even less time to close her mouth, even though the searing pain in her hands left her wanting to scream. At length, when Itachi knew his captive would be silent, he dropped her to the floor where she unceremoniously bounced on her rear end.

~"Follow me," he murmured softly, leading her from the room and towards his quarters. Whether she wanted to or not, it wasn't her choice anymore, she was under his control and would do as she was told, even if it wasn't what she wanted to.

~Sakura battled against her inner demons, terrified beyond all measure as Itachi closed the door, the resounding click of the tumbler lock going into place was followed by the thumping of her heart in her chest.

~" I'm keeping you safe. You may not believe me, but in order to keep my family's heritage line alive you're going to have to trust me." His normally emotionless voice had an odd tone of sincerity to it, even if it didn't take away all of her fear.

~The young medical nin's hands fidgeted wildly in her lap, her eyes downcast towards the floor and hair having fallen across her face, hid her expression well. She wanted to trust him, wanted to know that he wasn't going to hurt her, for the sake of her babies, but he was an Akatsuki member and had likely murdered thousands of poor innocent people. There was no way she could trust him any farther than she could throw him.

~Sensing her apprehension, Itachi knelt down front of her, haltingly reaching his hand out for hers and taking it from her, palm up. He traced the lines and calluses in a gentle way, a shiver breaking goose bumps out on her arms. There was something he wanted to say, but could not. It had been years since he had shown anyone a form of confidence and this tiny medical nin was hardly someone he had thought he would give it to when the time was right.

~"I will protect my nephews with every breath I have. I'm not here to hurt you-"

~"But you're here to hurt Sasuke," she muttered with a trace of fire in her voice. "That's why you kidnapped me, isn't it? To have him follow you to you could kill him and take Naruto's demon?" She yanked her hand away fiercely and inched away from the older Uchiha, his searing touch burning her skin.

~"I don't want to kill my brother and I don't care about Jinchurikis."

~"Liar!" She shouted, forgetting to keep her voice low and in the room beside them there was a rustle and someone smacking against the wall.

~Itachi sprang on her so fast then that the only sound she managed to squeak out before he slapped a hand over her mouth, was a low, animalistic cry of fear and they both went tumbling around on the bed. She struggled against him, fists bawled up with handfuls of his cloak twisted into her fingers as she tried with all her strength to pry him off, but his sheer weight blanketed her completely and constricted any movement she would have tried to make.

~He leaned over her menacingly, his Mengekyo Sharingan swirling so fast it bore into her mind. An amused smile spread across his lips when she gasped and tried to look away, averting her gaze to his chest to avoid his spell, but his free hand reached for her chin and pulled her back to him. "I can force you to do anything under my will without so much as lifting a finger, but I haven't because I want you to believe me under your own recognizance."

~"Why did you murder your family?" It was the only thing she could think of and had slipped from her lips before she'd had enough wherewithal to take it back and the man's jaw leaped with agitation, his eyes growing arctic in temperature.

~There was a long few moments of unnerving silence while he glared into her eyes and she stared with a fire of her own back. He was the first to look away, his optical orbs fading from the brilliant red to their normal nearly jet black hue, the fragments of foggy haze seeming stronger then they had been in the forest only a few days ago.

~His body moved off of Sakura's own, fingers tracing gently down her arms as he went until he was sitting a few inches away and glaring at the wall. "If I tell you, will you trust that I'm not going to hurt you?"

~The pinkette sharply inhaled and sat up, struggling with the action because of the growing baseballs in her gut. She debated for a moment over his words and finally, with a heavy exhale, her head nodded.

_~"I didn't kill them." _Four words that could have likely moved mountains, twisted metal, turned iron to gold. They certainly weren't the words Sakura had been expecting, maybe some sad sob story about how he had to, or that they were in the way, but never that he hadn't done it.

~"What do you mean?" She breathed out almost inaudibly.

~"Simply that. I didn't murder my family," a disgusted sneer played on the edges of his lips and he leaned forward, his ponytail slipping from his shoulder and dangling next to his face. "I just got to stand there and watch, and instead of defending myself to the only person I cherished above all else…" His voice wouldn't allow him to say his brother's name, not while he was stuck in the past remembering all these old memories that should have stayed dead and buried. There was too much emotion playing in his mind and he fought hard to stifle it down before this young woman caught him vulnerable.

~"Sasuke?" Sakura offered and Itachi nodded solemnly, but kept his face locked in his hands and aimed towards the floor.

~"I knew he wouldn't believe me, I was standing over our father with my sword drawn and blood dripping on it. Our mother was lying in a heap somewhere in the corner and Sasuke," he stopped, remembering Sasuke's expression, that horrible look of betrayal plastered to the boy's face as tiny tears trickled down his cheeks. It was the tears that hurt the most, even more then the realization that his entire clan was dead.

~"If you didn't do it, then who did?" It was hard to believe that this S-classed rogue nin, someone the whole of Konoha believed to have committed a horrible crime against humanity, hadn't been guilty of anything. But the feeling of buzzing trust nagged at the corner of her mind as she chewed on her lower lip in thought. He had every reason to lie to her, every reason to force her to believe him, it would make her submit to his whims without a fight, but for some unknown rationale… she believed him and a strange emotion curled in the pit of her stomach. At first she couldn't put a name to it, unsure what it meant, but the longer she stared at Itachi's hung posture and dejected frame, the more she felt it, and then she realized what it was… _Sympathy_. She was feeling sympathy for this man, this monster, this fake devil that haunted the waking dreams of Sasuke and put the younger Shinobi on his current path. But Itachi's next words tore the previous emotion from her viciously and replaced it with another, one that burned her core and wrung her through with every inch of white hot fury she possessed.

~"Madara Uchiha and the God Kazechi. They murdered my family so I would give them the power of my Mengekyo and used Sasuke as the pawn to seal my fate to them." He fought the inner turmoil within himself, feeling the biting, clawing, tearing, screaming monsters of intense wrath breaking him apart from the insides and threatening to come to the surface.

~"That's how you escaped," Sakura murmured softly, her eyes growing wide with sudden realization. When Sasuke had left the village, she had made it a personal mission to find out all she could about that heinous night, at first unsure what that knowledge could do for her, though knowing she needed to understand what Sasuke saw and felt. If she could have done that, than she could fathom why the youngest Uchiha was the way he was and maybe he would see her for more than he thought of her as. She had never thought in a million years that the information she had studied up on, read through, horrored over for months would ultimately help her in trusting the one man she had thought so much destruction had come from.

~Itachi nodded, "I may be a great Shinobi, but how does one just… disappear? I had over one hundred Black Ops ANBUs on my trail and they could neither find me nor catch any hint of where I'd gone."

~Sakura remembered that in the report, had debated over it herself a long time ago, but had thrown out any assumptions because she believed him to have been the bad guy, never in her life did she think she'd have the chance to ask the accused of his crimes and had no reason to think anything else of him.

~"Things were missing from the scroll," she said suddenly, "pages were gone, words and paragraphs blotted out, like things were being hidden. All the photographs of the crime scene were lost somewhere."

~"Yea, the elders hid everything, because they were afraid of their _secrets_ being found out," Itachi mumbled, lifting his head finally to look at her, "all the bodies were marked. They had symbols of the ancient gods on them, _carved_ into their flesh."

~Suddenly Sakura felt Ganimaru shift within her, weakly at first, but the goddess was there, listening to everything and all three of them spoke in unison, "_Kazechi._"

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Author's Note – Merry Christmas everyone and sorry this is one day or two days late for some. My day yesterday was HECTIC! But guess what? I got something called "Dragon Speak" where I say words into a microphone and it writes it into my Microsoft Word! I'm so excited! Chapters should go easier now! And I hope you will all do me a favor and leave me a review. I do live off them and need them badly to wanna keep writing! Lots of love and hope you all enjoyed your holidays!


	23. Freeing a Demon and Making a Friend

Author's note – Hope you enjoyed the last chapter, I have an affinity for Itachi, I apologize if you don't like him, but I feel that the issues in the Shippuden whether it be in the show or in the Manga are sad and make me feel so sorry for the older brother who honestly meant no harm come to his only left living relative. Itachi isn't really a bad guy T.T and I don't care what you Itachi haterz say about him!

P.S. This chapter contains rape… Sorry.

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, but I own any OC's and this story line. Thank you and please don't plagiarize, it''ll lead to cancer in poor pygmies in New Guinea. Think of the pygmies!

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**Chapter 23**  
**Freeing a Demon and Making a Friend**

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~It was oddly silent and empty without Itachi's overwhelming presence around to impose on her senses, requiring her to be on her guard even when she knew at this point, he was the only person she could trust in this place.

~The young Kunoichi's emerald irises glanced around, for the first time taking in all of her surroundings in their entirety and carving to memory every inch of floor, wall, and ceiling should she have need to know. Her _prison_ as she called it, was only about an eight by eight foot room consisting solely of bed and the bare minimums of trappings. A dresser chest contained very few clothes that Sakura was sure Itachi rarely used if he ever had, the newness of each article she had earlier gone through looked as if they had just been pulled off the shop keeper's shelves and shoved into the drawers without further thought. In the two days she had been strictly kept to these quarters, listening to the ringing silence of her own mind, she hadn't seen the oldest Uchiha son change his attire once, only solidifying her knowledge that these clothes likely had not ever been used. Other then the dresser chest though, the remaining furniture consisted of a nightstand beside the bed which was empty and a writing table against the far wall that had a chair neatly shoved into place underneath it.

~She slowly slipped off the lavishly dressed cot and set her bare feet on the stone floor, the cold seeping through her exposed skin and sending a shocking shiver up her spine. Her boots sat quietly by the door in neat order while they remained unused, but something inside her told her that she would have need of them soon and went to retrieve them in quick time.

_~"You wish to save that container, don't you?" _Ganimaru's voice was low and weak, having barely spoken much since Sakura realized the Goddess was still within her. She had found out that keeping the young medical nin alive had depleted much of the ancient being's power in an attempt to meld it with the mortal's own soul before Yagura's poison senbon needle attack back in Konoha.

~"Yea," Sakura whispered weakly, not really sure how she was going to do it, or even if she had the strength and prowess to do so. "I have to try, I can't let Kazechi extract the demon, it might kill him."

~_"It _would_ kill the Jinchuriki,"_ Ganimaru returned, having seen this process once before ages ago when the demons were still young and their powers not weakened by ages of containing spells and forgotten scriptures.

~"Then that's why we have to save him," she slipped into her thigh high red boots and zipped up the side, taking comfort in their warmth and instantly forgetting just how cold this place really was. Her eyes glanced to the chest of drawers and pulled open the first one to dig through it for some kind of dark garbed covering. Whether it masked her in the shadows or not, it hardly mattered, these ninja men wouldn't be deterred from killing her simply because she was wearing a cloak. What would save her was masking chakra know-how and a lot of luck.

~She made a mess of the dresser before finally finding a spare cloak and throwing it on, pulling up the draping hood to cover her face and oddly colored hair. That would have been the end of it and she would have taken to the hallway, knowing Itachi hadn't locked the door since their talk the other night, but something caught her eye. A tiny sparkle in the corner of the room that forced the nin to turn and give it her full attention to it.

~Her hand reached under the writing desk's chair and encompassed a small trinket that was cold to the touch and pulled it from its hiding place to be inspected under her own gaze. She was surprised when it was the three ringed necklace that the rouge always seemed to wear safely pinned in her grasp.

_~"This mortal object has power residing in it,"_ the goddess murmured softly, probing bits of chakra oozing from the medical nin's mind and coursing down her arm and into her fingers. It looked over the small silver ringed chain and at length pulled away when the inspection was done, _"it's a _Finder_."_

~"What's it do?"

_~"Finds things, stupid girl,"_ she chuckled, _"I'm surprised that man let this thing go so easily. Ancient objects like this one are hard to come by, even harder are the ones that aren't broken."_

~"Is this one broken?"

_~"No, put it on and we'll see what kind of Finder it is."_

~Sakura slipped on the necklace, clasping the ends around her neck and letting it sit on her bare skin. She stared at it for a moment, wondering what she was supposed to do now, and waiting for instruction from the Goddess who seemed to know everything about it.

~_"Ask it to find something for you, anything. People, things, scrolls… even answers to questions."_

~The girl nodded and closed her eyes, forming some semblance of a thought in her head, _"find the members of the Akatsuki."_ For a moment there seemed to be no change, nothing moved, no sounds were heard except Sakura's own exhaling of breath, but then suddenly her mind fogged over. Nothing frightening. In fact, the feeling of her head growing cloudy gave her a sense of knowledge she didn't quite know how to describe. Pictures danced in front of her closed eyes, the lids morphing and changing as an image tried to take form.

~Sakura struggled at first to decipher the thoughts forming and opened her eyes in frustration, but was shocked when she saw small floating red dots hazing in her vision. "What are those?"

~_"It's where the Akatsuki members are,"_ the immortal shifted uncomfortably in Sakura's head, sensing her brother's form among the red dots and even though he seemed far away, practically miles off, it didn't quell the uneasiness she felt.

~The pinkette closed her eyes and blinked, the red spots once there now disappearing as the lack of concentration left her. "Why are you so scared of that other god?" She asked finally at length, the sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach she knew it not to be her own, was eating at her.

_~"He's stronger then I am. His element weakens me and can tear me apart,_" the water witch shuddered at the thought and let loose a stream of past memories leaking into Sakura's mind, among them was a bloody image of a vision blanketed in tears and a maniacal man laughing above her. _"We are treading on unstable ground, Sakura. He's the type that doesn't forgive or forget things easily and he hasn't forgotten my last encounter with him."_

~"What happened?"

~Ganimaru debated for a quiet moment, wondering how much of her own past she should allow the Kunoichi to see all too quickly, but knew the woman would know it all sooner or later the more power she oozed into her.

~_A blue haired woman stood gawking at herself in the reflection of a low tide pool, fawning over her hair and flawless features like there was something wrong with her image. She hardly noticed the male figure standing at her back until a hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder, flinging the woman around to face him._

_~"Oh look!" He whispered lowly, the purring lilt in his voice would have brought mortal women under a spell of infatuation, but this was a goddess, the _only_ goddess and she wasn't in the least bit amused. "I've found a pretty little bird. Hello, pretty birdie."_

_~Ganimaru slapped away her brother's hand and took a step backwards, "leave me alone, Kazechi."_ _She was immediately rewarded with hard slap to the face that sent her charmed chakra filled body tumbling to the wet ocean rocks. For a long few seconds, the goddess remained motionless on the ground, feeling the digging in of sharp, jagged rock edges tearing into her fragile, mortal bound body. Blood trickled from her lip and she bit back the biting tears that cornered the edges of her eyes as she slowly shifted her body back to face her youngest brother._

_~"How dare you hit me," she hissed, "Itamihi and Horachikyu will be angry with your actions on my mortal form." All around her the pulsing ocean surged, the waves slowly lapping back and forth, touching hers and Kazechi's feet as the heart of the sea threatened to bubble up in protection of her mistress._

_~"Why, big sister. I'm truly hurt, here I thought you'd be glad to see me, considering how we last parted ways," he grinned wide, his stormy gray mortal eyes swirling masses of tempestuous emotions he hadn't yet begun to reign in. He was by far the most emotional of his siblings, having the worst temper, even by the Flaming Phoenix Itamihi's standards._

_~"I wanted to copy your power, Kazechi. You know that, our coupling meant nothing more." She wiped away the blood from her lips and sat up, her seaweed dress floating around her fallen frame in the low tide pool. A few small anemones crawled to their mistress and tried to ease away her pains, begging her in their tiny voices to use their energy and chakra to heal herself._

_~The goddess gently picked up her element's creatures and cuddled them lovingly close, snuggling the wet being to her cheek much to her brother's disdain. He hated being ignored and wasn't about to stand for it. In a flash, Kazechi reached down and grabbed her wrist tightly, snatching her up and yanking her into a standing position, the anemone falling from her grip and splashing back into its watery home._

_~"Let go!" Ganimaru shrieked and tried to wrench herself away, but the God held fast, hoisting his fiery tempered sister into his unyielding grasp and forming a culmination of turbulent winds around them before the sudden rage of the ocean overtook them. Just as the two gods disappeared the gigantic tidal waves of the sea's wrath came crashing down on the now empty spot and the sea slammed up upon the land in search of her master; crushing villages, tearing apart lives, and flooding the great continents._

_~Kazechi flung his rampaging sister away from him, watching her damp, blue tinted body roll across the floor of his cave hideout, bruises and scrapes showing angry up on her delicate, doll-like skin. She screeched loud and pitched herself on him, claws extended, and a death glare seeping from her cold, aqua blue eyes. Fuming ire overtook the water goddess' senses as she leapt upon her infuriating brother and dug her talons into his fragile, mortal flesh, tearing it asunder. Blood splattered across the cave walls and splashed the hard, stone ground, but all that was heard was Kazechi's booming laughter._

_~He shoved his harpie sibling back and clutched to his bleeding face, maniacal laughter escaping in wispy gasps through his disfigured lips, "you're so pathetically benign, sister. It's almost… almost hilarious," his laughter was cut short in an instant and his left eye hung out of socket, dangling by a bloody vein, just barely able to hold on. He reached up to his mangled hairline and dug his claws into his contorted forehead, tearing off his face and leaving behind a muscled skull. The next few horrifying moments were only the beginning of Ganimaru's anguish, she watched in muted terror while Kazechi ripped away pounds of top flesh and muscle tissue, grunting when sickly pieces clung tight for dear life. When he finished, his skeleton shown through clear as day and beating heart thumped visibly in his chest._

_~"Oh Kami," she whispered, a silent prayer to her spiritual maker and took a frightened step back when the god drew closer. Her hip bumped into a wall not a few steps later and Ganimaru was drawn up tight against a bleeding mass of skeletal muscle and tissue. The bubbly red essence washed over her clothes and drenched them in splotching crimson liquid and bodily fluids._

_~"Kiss me, sister," he mocked, closing the distance between their faces and yanking her caught wrists above her head. She fought him weakly, the tiny life within her womb shifting slightly from its mother's distress._

_~"Let go of me!" She bellowed and kicked at him wildly, managing to catch his masculine soft spot just right, sending them both sprawling to the ground in a heap. In record time, Ganimaru flung herself up and raced for the cave's entrance, praying against all hope that there was some form of liquid just beyond the mouth, but before she could gain her freedom, a freezing wind kicked up and threw her against a wall._

_~The goddess felt herself slowly slipping down the wall, dizzying unconsciousness dancing at the edge of her vision as prickling pain worked its way throughout her body. She couldn't move, it hurt too badly and sleep begged for her to let it take over._

_~Her incestuous brother came forward then, tearing winds whipping all around him and clawing his body apart, revealing his godlike appearance for every shred of mortal body his element ripped away. He knelt down beside his injured sister, watching as the broken appendages and grated flesh tried to knit itself back together._

_~"You always did love the human body more than your own. Frankly, sister. It sickens me how much faith you put into them. You're so naïve, just like Horachikyu. You both won't survive to see this world to its full potential." He snatched up Ganimaru by her blue hair and yanked her closer, his own long, prism clear locks covering his face as he licked her collarbone. She shuddered in disgust, crystalline tears seeping from the corners of her eyes. If she fought too much more, she would lose the baby and she couldn't handle that, not this child. This baby would be the hope she needed to help mold this planet away from the dark ages and into the light. It was her hope for a better life for the human race and she was praying no harm came to the unborn being._

_~Kazechi slashed away his sibling's dress, leaving her bare to the elements and the freezing chill of his own dry, cold skin. She shivered violently as he spread her legs apart with careless abandon, indifferent to her sobs and injuries. He pushed aside his flowing coverings, releasing his large member that he forced Ganimaru to touch, wrapping her unwilling fingers around the hardening flesh._

_~The goddess had never subjected herself to begging, had never needed to fear anything in her life and at this very moment, as everything happened in horrifying clarity, she debated begging for her existence and the existence of the tiny creature growing inside her. But her brother didn't leave room for anything, slamming himself deep inside her unwilling core even as she screamed and sobbed. _

_~It took hours for him to finish, finally at length tossing her bleeding body aside, rearranging himself in his robes, and throwing her a rag to clean up with. "Compose yourself, sister. Tears look unbecoming on you." He grinned evilly and disappeared in a tornado of elemental winds that ripped some larger pebbles from the cave walls and flung them throughout the hideout, one larger sized rock slamming into Ganimaru's skull and knocking her out… And there was only blackness afterward…_

~"Oh my god," Sakura murmured, hand coming to rest over her mouth, stinging tears clung to her lower lid. "How could he do something like that?"

_~"The same way any man can overpower a woman. Even your Sasuke overpowered you. They use fear and strength to tear away our defenses and leave us unable to protect ourselves. My brother is no different, but he is a god trapped permanently in a mortal body. That skin he wears is of the seal the mortals put on us. Kazechi is evil, he wants to destroy what we built here on this planet and enslave the humans."_

~"How are we going to keep him from doing this?" The medical nin questioned solemnly, this situation seeming to get more and more dire the more information Sakura was given into the grander scheme of everything.

~_"We have to keep the Jinchuriki demons away from him. If he manages to bring together all of the broken soul pieces and form the ten tail… my son. No one will be able to stop him, not even Itamihi or Horachikyu, wherever they're resting."_

~Sakura coughed shortly, "easier said than done. We're in a rouge S-Class hideout, surrounded by trained nins that could easily kill a pregnant Kunoichi." She exhaled heavily and rubbed her eyes, the sudden headache brought on by mounds of stress that continued to build. With all her training and all her desensitizing, she couldn't control the wracking chill of frigid fear that slowly wrapped its way up her spine and moving into all of her limbs. Goosebumps broke out on her flesh and she struggled hard to push everything out and away.

~"Kami," she whispered to herself, "the way I'm shaking you'd think I had never been in ANBU." She laughed at herself, listening quietly to the sounds of Ganimaru in her own head shifting uncomfortably. The goddess' chakra was weak, but her overwhelming presence drowned out nearly everything else and a soft warmth grew in the pinkette's mind.

~_"Stop worrying, I've seen it all ready. We'll escape tonight."_

~Sakura felt her fears melting in the warmth of Ganimaru's aura, but it didn't stave off the uneasy feeling resting in the pit of her stomach. No matter how much of the future the harpie water god could see, it didn't seem to ebb the tide of bad luck that followed the young medical nin.

~"Fine… I believe you, so tell me what the plan is."

~_"We're going to have to seduce Itachi."_

~Her eyes widened in shock, _"you want me to do what!"_ She reduced herself to screaming in her own mind, flopping herself roughly to the ground, legs pulled underneath her small frame.

~_"Don't get all innocent on me now, girl. You've done seduction missions before, I've seen the extent of your training in all of your memories-"_

_~"What are you doing poking around in my thoughts! I didn't give you permission-"_

_~"Shut up, mortal!"_ The water witch screeched and Sakura fell silent, _"now is not the time to debate the morality of searching through your memories. What's done is done and we can only move forward from here. Do you want to save this Jinchuriki or not?"_

~Sakura sat in morbid silence for a long few seconds, fuming at the options laid out before her, "you know he won't do it. He's not like that."

~_"That's why you have me,"_ she purred out, _"we'll get the Jinchuriki tonight after the brat's older brother falls asleep."_

~"What if I can't do it?" Images of Sasuke flashed through her mind, the times they'd shared each other's company, the times there were flashes of warmth cornering his lips and eyes. Whether she had feelings for Sasuke or not, and whether she wanted the irrational emotions that bubbled up within her chest, it didn't matter. This was something she didn't want to do, didn't know how to do. It would tear Sasuke up to know that she had slept with the _enemy_, no matter how misguided the thought was over Itachi's cover up, this was still wrong to the pinkette and she hated every second of it.

~A silent, lone tear streaked down her cheek as she allowed her mind to become foggy and push the goddess from her conscious thoughts. She would do as she was told, but she didn't have to like it and she didn't have to allow the witch to see her anguish in it either.

* * *

**Itachi Uchiha Age: 25**

* * *

~He entered the room silently, quietly allowing the door behind him to click shut without too much noise. The lateness of the hour forced him to think of the young medical nin sharing his living space and raised his blood red Sharingan gaze to the four post bed where she should have been lying. There were only neatly made covers and a haphazardly thrown pillow sitting lopsided, about ready to fall off its black comforter home. His eyes darted around as he inwardly cursed himself for allowing the door to remain unlocked even though he was sure the nin knew not to leave the safety of this haven.

~Suddenly a low sound made him turn, just in time to roughly snatch up a delicate hand reaching out for his shoulder. He hadn't expected it to be his captive and was instantly rewarded by a low, pained gasp for his undue attack on her fragile appendage. Not a moment later, he released her and turned fully so he could face her, seeing with some curiosity that her deep jade green eyes were flaming red from having been crying. At first he would have asked her the typical questions about her status and feelings, but thought better of it when she turned her head away almost sheepishly and raised her hand again, this time aiming for his face.

~The oldest Uchiha felt a strange sort of fog come over him as the dainty flesh of her soft, ungloved fingertips brushed against the skin of his cheek. His spine coursed with electrical shock waves that he fought hard to mask, struggling even harder with the sudden feeling of uneasiness he felt pouring into his conscious thoughts. Something was warning him against this, screaming for him to gently remove the pinkette's hand, but something more primal overwhelmed him in a tidal wave of glorious feelings he had only once before ever experienced.

~"Your eyes are bleeding again," she whispered, the sound more like tinkling bells with a shade of velvet warmth he wanted to engulf himself in. "Would you like me to heal some of the damage?" Her question was asked so innocently. No one had ever offered to help him, not since he was a Konoha ninja back home.

~He nodded slowly, watching in somber wistfulness as her hand dropped from his cheek, taking with it the beautiful feelings that made his mind feel like it was walking on air, but thankfully, not a second later her hand grabbed his and pulled him to the bed.

~"Lie down," she instructed dutifully, sounding more and more like a doctor than a kidnapped medical ninja.

~Without comment or complaint, Itachi unclasped his red clouded robe from around his shoulders and let it drop to the floor, underneath his black shirt and training pants remained as Sakura had seen them before. He turned and sat on the top covers, looking up at the Kunoichi with his motionless black Tomoes.

~Sakura hesitantly raised her hands to the rouge ninja's face, fingers trembling when she told him to shut his eyes and placed her thumbs over the closed lids. At first she watched the man before her, sensing his apprehension and unease from the jerky body movements he made whenever she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, but she could tell that whatever magic Ganimaru exuded was working. The normally silent, cautious man who likely could not have let anyone under his guard for anything was actually allowing someone, he barely knew, to touch him while he was completely vulnerable.

~Setting to work, the pinkette called forth small bits of searching chakra, forming them into her fingers and sending them out into Itachi's body. In her mind she could see the lids, the optical orbs, his irises, everything. She moved deeper, watching as blood pumped in his veins from a healthy, beating heart into the blue and red colored arteries. There didn't seem to be a problem there, it wasn't lack of oxygenated blood pulsing into his eyes and she shifted her chakra, moving over his irises and going deeper into the corneas. At first, if she hadn't been thoroughly looking, struggling to stave off her needing to _seduce_ this man before her, she might have missed the tiny, almost microscopic tears littering the retinas.

~Delving further, she pushed her way into the vitreous gel-like substance at his orbital centers, but found nothing out of the ordinary and shifted to the optic nerve. Electrical impulses surged back and forth throughout the nerve endings, looking like pretty fireworks of almost baby blue colored light behind Sakura's lids. She remembered years ago when Tsunade had first taken her on as a student and the hours she'd spent admiring the human body's intricacies and ability to always fascinate her.

~Suddenly, one of the lights sputtered and sparked out, drawing the rosette's attention. She must have moved because Itachi shifted underneath her, moving while she studied the inconsistency in the nerves impulse firings, and then two strong hands touched her wrists, clasping to them very lightly.

~"Show me," he whispered, "show me what you see."

~At first, Sakura didn't understand his demand, never having needed to prove to her patients their problems, but she knew how and formed mental images of her findings in her mind and pushed them out into Itachi's through the chakra leaving her fingers, painstakingly aware of moving the energy too fast lest she damage his eyes anymore than they all ready were.

~There was another misfire in the nerves and the Kunoichi struggled to get her energy closer without interfering with the impulses and like a sudden light bulb going off in her head, she realized why Itachi was going blind.

~"You have an optic atrophy, it's severe and I'll assume it's because you're a Uchiha," she mumbled, "your optic nerve is dying because of the trauma caused by using your Mangekyo." Her body shifted uncomfortably when Itachi's resting hands never left her wrists. She had pulled her chakra completely back finally and was lowering her appendages from his face, squeaking when he opened his eyes and stared hard at her with his brown/black irises.

~"Can it be fixed?" He asked lowly, the husky sound in his voice causing a delicious shiver to rush up Sakura's body and into her core. That was exactly how Sasuke sounded when he wanted something… something only a woman could exclusively give him.

~She swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head, "I can reverse the damage and make it like new again, but so long as you use your Mangekyo, you'll eventually go blind without a chakra controlled medical nin like me to heal your eyesight."

~Itachi felt Sakura's temperature rise a few degrees, sensing the sudden embarrassed blush staining her cheeks and nose. If he had been younger he might not have known why she acted like she did, but though he was not well practiced in the art of women, he knew how their emotions worked and smiled charmingly. "It looks like I'll have to keep you around for a little while."

~Sakura shivered again, the two brothers were so much alike, it was almost painful. She felt Ganimaru growl within her skull, egging the poor girl on, even though her gut instinct told her not to.

~"I-If you want me to heal you, yes. I-I'd ha-have to stay around." She cursed herself and another dark scarlet blush streaked across her face. "I could do a little bit of healing now if you want me too." There was a triumphant smile that spread across her lips then, one she knew he would take for security, though it was for leashing her runaway courage.

~He nodded slowly, her hands moved back to his face. The warmth of her beautiful light green chakra, laced with gold ribbons sunk into his head, resting comfortably under his now closed lids and slowly beginning to repair the damage his eye genjutsus seemed to be the cause of.

~Minutes later, she finished, pulling back her energy and feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion sweep over her. Healing never seemed to tire her out too badly, but when laced with a surgeon's precision and a prison guard's cautiousness, her chakra drained at faster rates, leaving her tired and out of breath.

~The missing Shinobi opened his eyes, moving his hands up the girl's arms and shifting his torso closer to hers, as he wrapped his arms around her hourglass frame. His eyes were smoldering in the low light of the room from a small, dim lamp on his writing desk, throwing the room into an ocean of moving shadows. It cast a pretty glow to the pinkette's face and Itachi noticed things about the girl he hadn't been able to before due to the blurring blindness. She had very light colored freckles that seemed almost invisible unless one looked hard enough and a cute nose that matched her facial features well.

~"You have a large forehead," he informed nonchalantly, watching her scrunch her face together in a form of irritated anger. "You hide it with all your hair, don't you?" To impress upon his opinion, he raised his hands high enough to entangle his fingers in the tresses, pulling playfully, "you are beautiful."

~Sakura tried to look away blushing, but Itachi's tight grip prevented much mobility and not a second later, she caught herself in the middle of a bruising kiss. Her eyes widened and the water goddess smiled within her confines, this man was easier to seduce with the mortal girl's charm than the harpie's wiles. In a few moments, she would take over Sakura's body and do what needed to be done to escape.

~When Itachi pulled away, he rewarded the little Kunoichi with a gentle bite on her lower lip, relishing in her glorious reaction when she shivered almost violently. He knew that much more of this attention and the innocent woman, he knew wasn't so innocent, would be like gelatin in his hands.

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~She tried to keep afloat her drowning thoughts, struggling against Ganimaru's warming presence that tried to overwhelm her senses, but quickly she was finding out that the goddess, even in her weakened state was still stronger and yanked the girl's consciousness from her grasp, throwing Sakura into the back.

~Her lips crashed down again upon the Uchiha's, stoking his inner fire just slightly enough to feel his need burn bright and pulled away to feign innocence. It worked with the experienced brilliance Ganimaru knew it would, chuckling lowly when the masculine Shinobi snagged up Sakura's ass in his hands and lifted her onto his lap.

~The goddess heard her mortal's mind shrieking in the background, but tuned it down to tolerable levels and refocused her attention back onto her prize. _"Keep quiet, girl!"_ She bellowed, Itachi's finger curling underneath the pinkette's chin and turning her face so he could have better access to the flesh on her neck. The pulsing vein that resided there sent human shivers rushing through her body and made the harpie inwardly giggle, it had been a long time since she allowed herself to actually enjoy mortal copulation.

~_"The more you struggle,"_ she started saying to the Kunoichi in mental hiding, pressing her physical body hard against the rising need the Shinobi displayed. _"The less my _infatuation _works."_

_~"What?"_ The medical nin questioned.

~_"My infatuation. It's the chakra that oozes off your body that I force out with my presence. It's why every male you seem to come across wishes to be… closer to you…"_

~Sakura's mind went frigid for a moment, a continuous stream of racing thoughts slamming into her unprepared psyche. She remembered how Suigetsu reacted towards her in the forest before Itachi had captured her, realized Naruto's sudden, insatiable need to be obsessively close to her since their journey back to Konoha from the Mist Temple, and saw Yagura's unnerving ardor towards her before he tried to kill her children. Even in some small fraction, the other males of her age range and those she had been in close proximity with seemed to be more _friendly_ towards her of late.

_~"Yes, little ninja. You're beginning to see it. It's my siren's call. Anyone of my choosing I can have under my spell simply because it is my right as the first and only goddess. It steadily grows stronger the longer the male is under my charm, and no man has ever been able to resist its beckoning. It's a gift I will soon pass onto you, and I'm sure with all your wiles, you'll use it well."_ The snickering immortal helped the Akatsuki member unzip her top and throw it to the side, grinning when he saw the ANBU tattoo marking her left upper arm.

~"Impressive," he breathed out, coming closer and kissing the respectable symbol, running his hot tongue across the flesh and moving back towards her collarbone where he could leave his love marks behind. His hands helped turn her until her back was facing him, revealing another impressive marking that lay silently upon her skin.

~"Angel wings?" He asked coyly, fingers tracing the lines delicately like they were some never before seen creatures.

~"A special summoning," Ganimaru whimpered out through Sakura's voice.

~"I've never seen one like this," Itachi moved his hands to the front and cupped the woman's firm breasts, smiling when the edges of them spilled out in his hands. They were too big to hold each individually and he enjoyed their size and suppleness.

~Ganimaru smiled and bucked her hips hard into her captor's lap seductively, instantly rewarded when her jailor hissed through clenched teeth and moved his roaming hands to her hips. "They allow me to fly."

~"A useful trick, I'm sure."

~_"Even Sasuke was infatuated?"_ Sakura managed to squeak out at length.

~_"Even Sasuke, now be silent while I tire him out."_

_~"All this time, the way he's been reacting to me. It's all been because of a spell?"_ Sakura was more or less talking to herself, but Ganimaru roared back, angry for the repeated interruptions.

_~"Yes! Yes! Yes! That mortal has no more real attraction to you then you have to that klutzy blond. Possibly less so then even that, at least you feel an attachment to the Jinchuriki boy and he to you."_

~Sakura gasped, shock changing the movement of her chakra throughout her possessed body. She felt the slight hesitation of Itachi's hands moving down her body, but other than that, there seemed to be no other changes. He continued his voyage down, kissing trails from her neck to her shoulder blades.

~Ganimaru struggled hard to reign in the overwhelming sadness oozing from the Kunoichi's aura, but couldn't keep in everything and one lonely tear managed to escape, spilling over her lower lid. It trickled down her cheek with silent abandon and dropped off her chin. She refused to be conscious for whatever happened afterward, slipping off into the morbid stillness of voided unconsciousness, allowing the goddess to do as she pleased. It didn't matter anyway, nothing did at that moment.

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~The Kunoichi sluggishly, almost lazily made her way from her prison room, shutting the door without a sound. She noiselessly moved down the hall, passing other doors in the process, careful to use the _Finder_ object she had managed to steal from Itachi, as her way to keep track of the other Akatsuki members still lurking around.

~It was eerily quiet and still as Sakura shifted through the darkness and into the giant hideout room that led her towards the prisons down below. There were no guards, only long corridors leading to nowhere in particular and looking more like the hallways of a hospital rather than a rouge ninja cave.

~She passed down several doors, peeking in only for a second to see what horrors lay inside, finding nearly all the locked rooms empty, and only one that contained the remains of some poor fool left to die and rot away into nothing. His skeletal leavings were the only sign that anyone had ever been inside. It left the woman feeling depressed by the sight and she hurried away quickly, making her way to the end of the passageway.

~Someone was playing something, a type of flute music at the end of the hall, and almost so lowly that without Ganimaru's hyper sensitive senses, she might have missed it. It was a sad tune that should have been only played at funeral processions, but then Sakura remembered where she was and felt the song to be appropriate.

~"Hello?" She breathed out when she managed to make it to the prison door, the music was instantly cut off. "Are you the Jinchuriki?"

~"If you're here to kill me. Then no, I'm not."

~_"Oh great," _the goddess muttered to the mortal pinkette, _"he's a jester."_

~"And if I was here to save you?"

~"Well then," the shadow in the back of the room shifted and Sakura saw through the barred peeping hole a young man come into the light. His dark brown hair shined a shade lighter in the passageway's dimly illuminated hall, and his eyes the color of sweet milk honey expressed a multitude of emotions, though mostly exhaustion. Attire wise, he seemed less like a Shinobi and more like some traveling actor, with a long blue silk kimono with a tattered bottom hem and a V-neck that cut so low across his front that Sakura blushingly noticed a dark colored trail of hair that slipped inside his clothing, just barely covering all the right spots and tied by a bright, neon orange colored sash that strongly reminded the medic of someone she left back in Konoha. The only thing that appeared to be out of place was the man's missing headband, declaring to all his ninja standing, but it was shoved out of Sakura's mind, for now they had other things to attend to.

~"I am the six tailed Jinchuriki, Utakata of the Land of Water. I possess the poison slug." He grinned charmingly, oozing a kind of smug self confidence that seemed overwhelming and right all at the same time.

~Sakura tried to put on a smile for him in return, but failed miserably. She didn't feel like being cordial or inviting, everything inside her screeched out in anguish, mostly mental, though some physical pain coiled tight in her stomach as well. "I'm Sakura Haruno. I'm a medical nin from Konoha. Do you feeling like getting out of here, Utakata?"

~Utakata gave the pinkette a sidelong glance, unsure if she could be trusted after having spent so long on his own and without help. He didn't know if now was the best time to begin relying on others. "How do I know that you're not one of them? And why would Konoha help someone from Mist?"

~_"We don't have much time, mortal! We must flee!" _Ganimaru's patience was wearing undeniably thin, her chastising not a helpful notion at the present moment.

~"If you want to get out alive, I strongly suggest you forget what's going on politically between our nations and just come."

~"Well played, good Kunoichi," a devious smile playing on his lips, "well played. So how do you propose to escape?"

~Nodding, Sakura delved into her limited supply of reserve chakra Ganimaru had laying in wait for her and slammed her fist into the lock of the door, smiling when the Mist nin gave her a surprised glance as the holding bolt disintegrated to dust.

~"I'm a bit of a powerhouse," she whispered.

~"Uh-huh," was all the Jinchuriki could squeak out. He sluggishly came out and into the light and it was obvious to the physician the extent of damage Utakata had been dealt. His eyes and face appeared sunken from lack of food and water, and some sort of chakra seal had been placed on him, one she didn't recognize.

~"I suppose you're pretty much useless, aren't you?"

~The Mist nin smiled charmingly, it was odd how someone who looked like he was dehydrated and starving could put off such an aura of inexplicable bliss, "I can be your comedic relief and flute you a happy tune."

~"Great just what I need," she said sarcastically, reaching out and grabbing the arm she suspected of having the chakra seal. "I don't know anything about this jutsu, maybe you know, Ganimaru?" She waited patiently for the goddess to respond, sensing more energy dribble from gloved hands and sink into the barring hold over Utakata's chakra.

~"Who are you talking to?" He asked curiously, realizing the pinkette hadn't been addressing him.

~"My inner… annoyance," she muttered, unable to find a more demeaning word.

~"Are you a Jinchuriki too?"

~"Not exactly," she was surprised when Ganimaru pitched happily inside her confines and managed to rip away the seal without too much effort.

~In an instant, the hallway was filled with a tidal wave of power from the seemingly harmless Water nin, giving Sakura reason to feel more at ease. If this Shinobi could exude this much power as exhausted and malnourished as he was, she felt they could easily escape without too much effort.

~The crimson dots across her vision had paused only momentarily, but now seemed to fling themselves into action, one in particular was drawing towards the two ninjas at a swift rate that wasn't human. He would be upon them in a minute's time and now was the best opportunity to get out of there if there was going to be one.

~"Now what?" He asked happily, eyes narrowing into golden slits.

~"We escape," and without another word, Sakura snatched up the Jinchuriki's arm and blurred down the hallway just as an Akatsuki member came sliding into view. He screamed something unintelligible, more inhuman garbling than natural speech, but she didn't dare turn around to check who it might have been. If he was going to be right on her heels, she didn't want to see him coming and apparently, by the way Utakata raced at her side, he didn't want to look either, not even slightly hindered by his long dress kimono as Sakura assumed he would be.

~They came tearing into the great cave room which appeared empty, save the stampeding rouge Shinobi hot on their heels, and the Leaf Kunoichi kicked shut the prison door before he could come through. A loud bang echoed throughout the whole room and a crackly voice bellowed obscenities. His momentary concussion wouldn't last long, and soon the puppet monster Sakura had caught a glimpse of, would come tearing through the flimsy metal door.

~Other members were in hot pursuit, among them she was sure was Itachi, finally having awoken from his exhausted nap that Ganimaru had put him into after sucking dry most of his chakra and copying his abilities, much to her sickened delight, she found several useful ones, but they were inescapably trapped.

~"You haven't exactly thought this completely through have you?" The Mist nin murmured with an eerie smile, flashing sharp fanged teeth when she shook her head. It was odd to the Kunoichi that he too, like Suigetsu, Yagura, and Kisame possessed the strange shark-like jowels customary of their watery birthright, but Utakata seemed less menacing than the others, it had to have been his odd charm.

~"Not really, we just need to get out."

~"Well, Utakata to the rescue. Tit for tat, Kunoichi Sakura," he pulled his white, bone and metal flute from a hidden inner pocket and placed the tip to his lips, blowing out an odd tune.

~"This isn't the time for music!" She shouted frantically. Another few seconds and the doors would be flung back to reveal their enemies that would tear them apart. One was struggling to break the hinges on the prison's door while the others were speeding through the passageways to come recapture those who had broken free.

~"You're not _helping_," Utakata growled and continued his tune, gray chakra flowing from his mouth into the instrument and forming a prism colored bubble at its end. The clear walled object continued to grow and grow until it was easily the size of both the Mist nin and Sakura, before the man finally stopped and released it, allowing the thing to engulf them.

~"Hold on," he smiled and the bubble picked both of them up, floating through the air towards the cave's entrance as the prison's door finally busted loose, bombarding the foreboding room in metal shards.

~"Things are gonna get…_tight,_" he informed and slammed his jutsu bubble into the entrance rock face, managing by some freak force of gravity or nature to actually contort both ninja bodies into flat surfaces and phase them through the cracks in the stone edges. One second there had been darkness, the next there was moonlight, sending a triumphant squeal to escape Sakura's lips as she hugged tight to Utakata's leg for support, praying with all her might that the effervesce of the Mist nin's creation wouldn't pop.

~"We should head for Konoha," Sakura whispered at length, finally managing to get out some kind words out as the Akatsuki hideout vanished into the darkness of the night along with most of her worries, "we have the Mizukage Yagura there and the Ancient Monk Kodai."

~Utakata gave the Kunoichi an odd sideways glance, careful not to let his chakra flow be disrupted, the last thing both of the nins needed was their makeshift escape vehicle to suddenly disperse and send them crashing into the ground. "Why would the Mist Kage be in Konoha?"

~Sakura managed to reign in some courage and slowly scaled up her savior's leg, watching in bemusement when he shivered as she passed his lower regions. The sensations of his only lasted a second and when the Kunoichi was able to stand on her own, she parted their bodies.

~"He kind of followed me home. Plus, he and Master Kodai had information about the Akatsuki as well as the ancients."

~"What do you mean 'the ancients'? I've never heard of them before," he shifted the bubble in a westward direction, thankfully in the pathway of her hidden village.

~"It's a long story."

~Shifting his brown head to get a better look into the emerald pools of his escape buddy, Utakata gave her a sour look, "you do realize it'll take us over a week to get to Konoha this way, right? We've got nothing but time."

~Sakura smiled, glad that not all Mist nins seemed to share the same high and mighty traits that it seemed the lone Water nin member of Taka and the Mizukage, carried with them. She was actually beginning to enjoy this man's company, even if she was sure he seemed slightly off his proverbial sanity rocker.

~"The ancients… from what I've gathered up to this point, are the original demons, from before the ten-tail and the Sage. They're older then the continents and ninjitsu and everything we were taught." She felt her unborn babies flutter lightly in her lower abdomen and lifted a hand to quiet them, slipping slowly to the bubble's bottom to sit on her legs. "These demons… these _gods_ are so powerful they dwarf the power Sannins and even the Jinchurikis."

~"And you have one of these inside you?" He asked skeptically, shifting the chakra based soap residue over a thick patch of forest branches.

~"Yes, it's one of the ways they've survived all these years. When their power grew to be too much, after the ten-tail was born and split apart by the Sage, humans took it upon themselves to bind the gods into canisters and laid them in the protection of chosen humans from the original four great nations. So long as the canisters remained and the gods lived, these humans would live as immortals, unable to die from disease, plague, old age. And then the scriptures about the god's deeds and offenses became lost to time. The elder's _elders _hid it from their people. It was like some worldwide conspiracy effort to keep quiet the past."

~Sakura looked up at Utakata, seeing his odd expression, "we've been lied to about everything. How the world was made, how everything was formed. For centuries, we've been lied to." She drew her knees in close and hugged the underside of them close to her chest. With everything having been shifting around her so fast, it wasn't until that very moment that she had begun to allow the true effect of Master's Kodai's story to sink in. The heaviness of so much forgotten, lost, burned, and shredded memories welled up inside her and threatened to force her to come apart at the seams. Underneath the surface she could hear Ganimaru purring lowly as if in complete contentedness. She sensed Utakata's demon warbling within his prison's confines and apparently the goddess seemed to be having the most delectable exchange of conversations with the six-tail while neither of their physical bodies quite heard.

~"It doesn't surprise me," the Water nin muttered bitterly, surprising the pinkette doctor for a brief second before he continued, "for all intensive purposes, I'm a missing ninja, spending my life in the solitude of loneliness on an island in the middle of nowhere with no one save myself and my demon. I murdered a man from my village who was trying to kill me. Instead, all he managed to do was awaken the rage within Rukobi*. I've been a missing nin ever since, tracked down by the Hunter nin of Kirigakure because I left my... _prison_."

~Feeling as if there was more to the man's story, Sakura pressed, touching his thigh lightly and with a tenderness of a close friend. The action apparently tore Utakata from his deep thoughts, his chakra flow faltered briefly, but came back quickly enough before anything happened to them.

~"Who was the man you killed?"

~"My master. His name was Harusame. He taught me everything I needed to know about being a good and proper Shinobi. I was enthralled by him and took everything he said to heart, deeming it to be the right thing, because it's how a student is supposed to act. The student trusts his sensei with everything, even his own life and he took it from me… Took everything and left me with just this rage and mistrust."

~Sakura took all of this information in, holding it in her thoughts and looking it over as if it were a round orb full of compacted memories, "I'm sorry, Utakata. I wish that hadn't had happened to you."

~He sniffed snottily, shaking his head of the age old remembrances, pushing them from his mind, "don't be. I'm not. The man got what he deserved for trying to kill me."

~"You shouldn't think like that, it taints your heart-" a sudden explosion cut off anything the practiced medical nin was going to say and their transportation as well as their protection was swiftly snatched from their grasp.

~Sakura felt herself falling and shrieked as she searched around wildly for not only the source of their fall, but also for something to grab onto. Beside her, Utakata was forming a jutsu, his boundless chakra surging and another bubble formed around himself, leaving the pinkette to plummet. She spied an oncoming tree branch and fought to reach for it as she passed, yet her fear filled grasp couldn't hold on and the branch slid from her fingers, forcing her into a midair roll. Her body slammed into another branch, the loud cracking of its ancient limb ringing like a gong in her ears and finally broke, sending her another ten feet into more tree appendages, smaller ones that didn't stand a chance in holding her body weight.

~She fought hard to gain her bearings before the ground came up to slam into her, but to no avail. With each object she hit, it threw her senses off kilter and sent her for a dizzying tumble until Ganimaru, tired of being smacked around sent a pulse of chakra to the woman's back and out sprang her white bloodied wings. They flapped uselessly for a moment, still wet from blood and sopping tissue, sending her hard into a stony barked oak tree, though not a second later managed to find some kind of updraft and finally Sakura righted herself. She floated to the ground, hitting harder then she had expected she would, rolling to avoid further damage. Her mind fluttered wildly, spinning from her cascading fall and impact with the hard earth. Beside her, at length, finally came down the Jinchuriki who though was profusely apologizing for being unable to catch the woman, still managed to infuriate the residing goddess.

~"Fuck!" Sakura screeched when she felt the mind numbing pain of a broken wing bone. It didn't seem to be any different than the millions of other breaks she had struggled to endure throughout her life, but this pain was different, from appendages she had never before felt or known existed. She flopped like some out of water fish, drowning on too much air before her mind struggled to calm her screaming senses down with a shot of racing adrenaline.

~She glanced at the agonized wing, rolling her eyes into the back of her head when a bone was sticking out unnaturally from a compound break. Blood dribbled from where the skin had ripped away and whimpering softly, she moved the abnormal appendage closer so as to fix it.

~Chakra oozed from her fingers tips as Utakata watched on in mute shock. He had never seen anything like this kind of healing before and was thoroughly impressed, though stressed on just how angry she would be when she managed to dilute some of her pain. Her look of mortified torture told him volumes of how badly she had fallen.

~"You're certainly not a cat, that's for sure," he stated smiling, hoping to lighten the mood, but Sakura gave him a murderous glance and it shut him immediately up.

~"What the _fuck_ happened?" She hissed, her wings finally healed and pulling back into her body at the goddess' mental behest. The white appendages had torn through her shirt material and left two gaping holes in the fabric, where now underneath one could visibly see the wing bulbs and tattoo markings marring her near perfect, porcelain flesh.

~"Something exploded near us. I don't know what it was." A twig snapped nearby and both the medic and musician's gaze flicked towards the abhorring sound, seeing a shadow melding from the darkness.

~"You two are hard to catch, yeah? Almost got away, but my bird caught ya, yeah." A blond man stepped forward, the one Sakura recognized as being the puppet man's partner. His showing blue eye flashed crazily at them, the other hidden by his long flowing bangs.

~Utakata rose to his feet first, his light blue kimono robe swirling at his feet, "I'll handle him." He drew into his inner pocket and pulled out his flute from before, making ready his chakra and body for a fight.

~"I-I don't have the energy to help you, Uta," Sakura murmured from her knees. Her hands rested tightly on her tummy, fighting to calm the inner turmoil of fluttering baby movements that were nearly screaming to be heard.

~Utakata smiled over his shoulder at the rosette haired woman, his golden eyes flashing softly, "don't worry, I'll protect the young lady. It's the least I can do for letting you fall." He let his gaze float back to the Akatsuki member and narrowed angrily on him.

~"You're one of the stupid morons that had me in a cage for the past few days, aren't you?" There was this wave of overwhelming chakra that suddenly piqued to levels that awed Sakura, leaving her wondering over the extent of his reserves. They seemed endless.

~"Hey! I'm not a moron, yeah!" The blonde's face visibly darkened a slightly red hue as his temper rose a few degrees. "I'm going to drag you back to the hideout now, yeah. And there we're going to torture you and extract your demon!" He flung something at the Water nin, making a swift jutsu and the white object burst to smithereens, going in every which way, shrapnel flying across their newly formed battlefield.

~Using his flute like a shield, Uta easily swatted away flying metal and apparently _clay_ pieces without much thought, flipping backwards to avoid the rioting explosion. He had a flowing bit of grace about the way he defended, slow and steady, without too much pause, not something the blond was used to by the looks of it. The enemy seemed angry that his one hit wonder attack hadn't managed to land anywhere, not even the Kunoichi not too far off had a scratch and she had not even moved.

~"Deidara!" Someone yelled from the mist of the forest clearing's outskirts, "stop messing around, I want to return to the cave before dawn. I have a work to finish!"

~Sakura's eyes darted to the hiding form, growling low in her throat when she remembered the grumbling, almost metallic sounding voicebelonged to the crawling monster that had tried to chase them through the lower corridors of the Akatsuki prison.

~"Well, that crap you call your work can wait, yeah. My art…_ is an_ _explosion!_" Deidara's maniacal laughter echoed through the forest perimeter and he spread his arms wide, showing the palms of his hands, two slurping mouths frothed wildly as their pink tongues hung out almost grinning to his enemies.

~Utakata watched in muted horror as the mouths coughed and gagged up some kind of disgusting white material, to which Deidara easily began making tiny sculptures from, flinging them towards the Mist Shinobi with reckless abandon, not caring who he killed in the process. Explosions rocked the forest and sent both Kunoichi and Junchuriki sailing through the air, forcing both to find some cover.

~The pinkette sighed heavily as she took refuge behind a tree, praying for this to be over soon, so she could make it home. All she wanted to do was find a bed, some decent hot food and some _normal_ company, her mind stressing that word so harshly it made her dizzy.

~"I see a little lost lamb come to the slaughter," the buzzing mechanical voice cut through the Kunoichi's thoughts and drove her to search out its owner, sensing a sudden movement from the abyss and a bit of metal shined in the darkness before heading right for her face. She dodged, just barely being missed by some sort of metal-like tail trying to end her life. It slammed into the old tree, shattering its base to pieces and leaving the ancient wood to fall.

~Sakura skid to a stop and turned around quickly, only barely able to flip backwards before another barrage of insanely sharp, taloned steel came barreling for her. "Who the hell are you?" She screamed, leaping for a nearby branch, the enveloping darkness all around her didn't help unmask her enemy at all. Somewhere off in the distance she could still hear the clay master and Utakata going at it, the explosions still fierce and the soft melody of a flute being played worked its way to her ears.

~"I'm the puppet master," he whispered low, his face appearing over the medic's shoulder, melting from the black to stop the blood in her veins cold.

~No!" She bellowed and spun around quickly, smashing her fist into the masked face, glad when she easily connected and cracked the fake visage to pieces.

~"You have some bite in you yet, even though you're _so _tired and _so _weak." His hands snatched her up around the waist and attempted to crush her, but the goddess within again, out of her own accord, let out the snow colored, downy wings she knew could be of some assistance.

~The Kunoichi's skin tore as the appendages ripped through, spring boarding the monster Akatsuki member backwards and flipping the man onto his back. She uselessly flapped them to shake off their wetness, the new feeling of muscles and bones she hadn't know existed before today was something she honestly could never forget.

_~"I don't know how to use them!"_ Sakura's mind screamed, jumping away from a thrown kunai as her enemy struggled violently to right himself. If there had been more time, she might have giggled at the comical scene, equating the ridiculous man to an upside down turtle, but she had not the luxury of sitting around gawking, not a second later he was tossing kunai and shurikens from a warped underbelly that consisted of mechanical workings Sakura had never seen before.

~_"Just run! I'll do the rest!"_ The goddess sounded desperate, an odd sound to the mortal's ears. If Ganimaru felt strained, there was no telling what horrors were about to unfold next.

~She swung herself up onto another branch, propelling herself higher, trying to make it to the tree tops where she could easily avoid attacks from a ground based machine.

~Her heart soared when she saw the moon's glow not too far off, but something snatched up her ankle and yanked her back, smashing her into the ground and crushing the oxygen from her lungs. There were a few hazy moments where Sakura's blackening vision fell in and out of consciousness, the form of the monstrous, red cloud cloaked man drawing inexplicably closer.

~She watched, unable to move as the broken face, with showing skull beneath came in for a closer inspection and she could hear his cursings about someone named Hiruko and his lack of visual abilities, screaming about the work it would take to fix the face. Quiet engulfed the Kunoichi's senses, as if all her hearing had been muted and all she could see was some kind of under flap opening beneath the puppet's belly and out crawled a fire red haired man no older than herself.

~His lips moved incoherently, but the only sound the girl could understand was her own labored breathing as she fought to keep it even. She could see stars dancing across her vision still from the hard fall and wondered vaguely in the back of her medically trained mind if she had a bad concussion. It wouldn't surprise her if she did.

~"_Sasori,"_ was all she heard him say, somehow knowing it was his name. He reached down with his perfect hands, strange to the woman that he seemed so perfect, and touched her face almost tenderly. All ready the sounds in her ears were beginning to return and his voice was slowly coming into auditory focus.

~"…perfect puppet. The hair is perfect, the eyes… so full of fire. I've never seen a specimen such as yourself. If I still had human parts I'm sure they would be moving a mile a minute," he shifted his hands to her neck, to the pulsing artery beneath the surface, "I'll have to remove all your organs and blood, such a messy job." Still he moved downward to her breasts, but his touches didn't seem to have the same quality as a man trying to rape her, more like an artist marveling at a perfect sculpture. He was carving to memory every inch of the pinkette and still he went lower.

~"You just keep getting more and more interesting," he murmured, fingers drawing invisible lines over the inescapable bulge, "so young to be starting a family… So young to die. You know, I'll have to remove these too," it wasn't a question and left no room to be argued or pleaded to be otherwise.

~"Get your hands _off_ of her," the all too familiar voice sparked a shred of sane hope to catch fire inside Sakura's mind and she turned sluggishly towards the sweet sound of protection.

~_"…Sasuke… you came to save us…."_ Her vision finally darkened to black and everything was silent.

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Author's Note – another LOOOOOOOOONG chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing this one. I thought I would have problems, but surprisingly I didn't. I did have to go through certain Google searchings to make sure I had timelines and junk correct, but I think I did okay with it, all in all.

P.S. I know Utakata is supposed to see cold and carefree, but I felt seeing as how his personality wasn't explored too extensively in the series, that it should be explored here and I'm going to do so by making him slightly more comedic. We need more shits and giggles in this story anyway, keeps us smiling. Hope you all noticed I changed the type of story from Romance/Angst to Romance/Drama. It seemed more fitting as the story has progressed, though I might still change it back… Final battles are coming in the next 10 chapters (_**If I make it that far chapter wise**_), so I feel it necessary to warn you, some of you might cry with the ending and those wonderful Kunoichis and Shinobis we have grown so close to in this fiction, could possibly no longer exist. Hope you enjoyed, you know what to do. R&R. This one I'm really hoping for a good review turn out. I worked really hard on this, and I need the input. Thank you!

P.P.S I have had some trouble apparently with my grammar and spelling lately, I was informed of the _Mangekyo_ and _Sannin_ misspellings and will change them as I come across them in my updating later. What I won't change is spelling _Sannin_ to _Sennin_, I enjoy the way it looks with the "a" and it annoys me when it's spelled with an "e" sorry if this offends anyone, it's how my level of OCD works.

P.P.P.S. Sorry hahahaha, I found a cool site that actually helped me name the 6-tail slug. It says his name is _Rukobi_, at least I hope it is for this fiction's sake, otherwise his name would have been _Namekuji_. Tell me your thoughts on the name of the demon. Rukobi or Namekuji. Thank you!

Sincerely,

**Lady Angela**


	24. Sins of Our Elders

Author's Note – I'm back, hope you all missed me. I'll keep this short and sweet because I do wanna write and I'm sure you guys wanna read ^.^;;

P.S. Computer crashed and had to rewrite the ENTIRE chapter 24, 25, AND 26 all over again, hope you'll forgive me for the delay in things and allow me to present you with this chapter.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters

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_**Chapter 24**_  
_**Sins of Our Elders**_

_"**Fake** words, spoken even with the best intentions,  
Are still **lies** no matter how much you dress them up  
To look like beautiful **truths**."_

_~Lady A.R.R.O._

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~The hazy edges of consciousness slipped under her caressingly wonderful blanket of sleep, pulling the nin's exasperatingly exhausted mind out of its protective cocoon and thrust her, none too gently, into the waking world. Her eyes fluttered open, groggily searching her surroundings as they tried with little success to focus on something, anything. She first saw a low fire, crackling and spitting a few feet away, doing away quite well with the night's biting chill, but a moment passed and her thoughts collected, allowing Sakura to remember what had transpired before her inevitable blackout and without thinking clearly, the pinkette leapt to her feet. Instant regret poured into her body from the poor decision as blood pumped rapidly from her brain, leaving her nauseatingly light-headed. Beneath her, knees which quickly turned into some form of gelatinous substance not suitable for holding her up, buckled without warning and sent the unprepared Kunoichi sprawling to the unforgiving ground.

~Sakura waited for the mind shattering pain that should have followed a fall like hers, in the condition she was in, but it never came, forcing the pinkette to slowly open her tightly squinted eyes and take in the reason for gravity's lack of attention.

~"You shouldn't be moving around, a concussion isn't something that heals overnight." That voice which Sakura had thought before the blackness to be that of her old teammate, had warped slightly and was decidedly _not_ Sasuke's gruffer, more emotional, angry tone. Itachi's quiet lilt that held traces of patient superiority was working its way into the Kunoichi's brain and she shivered unconsciously, a multitude of fears creeping up her spine.

~She slowly glanced up at her would be savior, finding the bubbling blood colored irises of an Akatsuki member she had no interest in meeting so soon after her escape from his clutches. It was obvious she was afraid and he knew it, but if he relished in his power over her, he didn't show it. The next few moments seemed to come to a standstill as trembling emerald held its own against hardened ruby, though it was the softer of the two that broke away first and rested at their feet.

~Where are the other-"

~"Incapacitated." He was back to giving one word answers, leaving Sakura fearful of a tempestuous out pouring of rage should he be so inclined to discipline her for the earlier disobedience.

~"Did you kill them?" For a brief second she sounded hopeful, but the Sharingan user squashed her hopes swiftly.

~"No."

~Feeling the first twinges of uncomfortable silence sinking into the rosette's mind, she carefully extricated herself from his less than inviting grip, sinking slowly to the ground on her own before her aching body did it for her once again.

~"Where's Utakata?"

~Itachi wordlessly moved back to his position next to the fire, leaning his back against a rock and getting himself comfortable, "do you ever close your mouth?"

~Indignant anger sparked in her mind, but thankfully Ganimaru was there to reign in the immature emotion before it began to rage and overtake her. _"Keep calm, my pet. He is angry with us,"_ a demonically devilish smile spread across the goddess' lips, _"we hurt his feelings when we toyed with his boyish emotions."_

~Sakura chewed on her lower lip, a rush of guilt washed over her without warning and sat awkwardly in the space where clear-minded thinking should have laid. "Where is the Jinchuriki?" She repeated, "they can't have him."

~"Sleeping," his eyes squinted and he moved his arm in a silent sweeping motion, pointing to a gray glowing figure off in the darkness. His chakra was warbling and weak, leaving the young woman to wonder what had transpired while she was immobile, but it appeared as if Itachi was in no mood to speak and she in no mood to attempt a _trying_ conversation.

~"Are your eyes causing you any problems?" She was struggling to fill the silence.

~His head lifted sluggishly and turned to face hers, when their eyes locked his Sharingan began to fade, leaving behind dark, almost black mahogany orbs. His brother looked so much like him, and yet nothing like him at all. "They are fine." They held each other's gaze for a second too long and a splashing blush crept up Sakura's neck and pranced wildly across the bridge of her nose.

~"_Don't_," he growled, "don't play coy with me. You are anything _but_ innocent. Even if it is the scroll."

~She lowered her stare and pulled her knees to her chest, her entire being wracked with aches, bruises, and pains she knew she would have to heal as soon as her chakra came back. The silence that filled the air between bespoke of prickly feelings neither wished to address. One ninja felt oddly betrayed, while the other felt only guilt, both struggled hard to harness in the fly away emotions, but neither quite succeeding.

~Itachi mentally slapped himself for even remotely trusting this Kunoichi. He knew better than that. Had been trained better and yet he had fallen so easily for a big pair of googly green eyes and a touch of soft feminine folds. It was torture to think that even for a second he felt some sort of a raging connection between them, but knowing he had this feeling only caused him more grief. This woman, this particular Kunoichi wasn't his to touch, or to claim, let alone even think about. It was cruel of him to tempt his quickly hardening soul with a smidgen of warmth that only someone pure-hearted could provide. He had no interest in furthering something between her… between anyone for that matter. Just as soon as his little brother gathered up the needed power and strength, he had prepared himself to just slip away to the sands of time and decay, regretting nothing and feeling even less. He was a murderer, a chauvinist, an evil thing that needed to be scrubbed out of existence, but since he hadn't the strength of heart to do away with himself, he was giving his beloved younger sibling the chance to correct the injustices done to them and their family.

~A hand reached out and touched his shoulder suddenly and jerked him from his thoughts, but he harnessed his surprise and looked at the offending appendage like it was some sort of insect in dire need of squashing.

~"We need to get to Konoha with Utakata," she tried to convey as much need as she could muster and for an instant she saw his stony eyes soften, but to prevent his weakness from seeping through, he narrowed them.

~Brushing her hand away, he rose to his feet and began unbuttoning his cloak. He felt her confusion, though it faded in an instant when he brought the warm material around the pinkette's shoulders and tied it at her throat. "You were shivering. You should take better care of my _brother's_ children." Silence engulfed them as Sakura pulled her arms to her chest and meekly looked away before the sheer intensity of this man's gaze sucked her in completely and turned her mind inside out. The effect Itachi's soul-searching eyes had on her reminded the Kunoichi almost of Kakashi's, both men had been through hard lives, both torn apart by their chosen profession, and still remaining to hold onto whatever microscopic shreds of sanity they had left. Though each man chose a different path in life, one of the heartless murderer and the other of a stoic teacher, yet somehow the two of them held as much regard in the medical nin's mind as the other.

~"Itachi," she whispered at length, the Uchiha's hands lingering a moment too long on her shoulders, "I trust you."

~A sorrowful smile flashed across his face, but it fell away as swiftly as it had come, leaving behind only cold indifference, "you shouldn't. I have killed men simply for the pleasure of it-"

~"Liar," Sakura mumbled and dropped her hands to her belly, cradling her tiny lifelines, "you don't enjoy killing people."

~He watched on with muted acknowledgement, feeling his thoughts and emotions naked against the overwhelming power this little slip of a woman had over him. _"It's just the scroll inside her. Nothing I feel is true."_ It took a few minutes to compose his thoughts, but he managed it at length and turned away from camp, going to find himself his own quiet place to think. Just before he disappeared into the midnight shadows, he turned and peered directly into Sakura's jade gaze and nodded, "we will leave when the Jinchuriki rouses." With that, he was gone, as if having never even stood there to begin with and the pinkette sighed softly, taking to sitting against Itachi's rock and letting sleep retake her mind.

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**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

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~He bounded through another tree branch, only slightly hindered by his pained leg, though he pushed any and all thoughts out of his mind that didn't consist of the problem at hand. He needed to gather up Sakura from his brother before something bad happened to her and whether it was smart or not, he was going to do just that.

~"Slow down, Teme!" Naruto's voice sliced through the quiet of Sasuke's mind and forced a heated hiss to exit through his clenched teeth. If the Uchiha had been able to choose, he would have left the damn, stupid Dobe at home, but as it stood the nine-tail was likely going to be needed against his seemingly infinitely more powerful older brother. If anything, the blonde could at least distract Itachi for long enough to get Sakura. That was the goal at any rate.

~Sasuke growled inwardly at himself, sensing the weakness welling up inside him from a small portion of his steadily beating heart. He couldn't believe he'd allowed himself to become weak like this, letting in a stupid slip of a woman who couldn't even protect herself. This wasn't like him, it went against everything he stood for as a Shinobi, and as much as it angered him, it for some reason gave him a tiny bit of comfort. Months ago, if someone had asked him what he was going to do about himself after he finally killed his brother and avenged his family, he would have told them with all honesty that he was going to go find a place to rot and die. After killing Itachi there was no more point in his life, he hadn't the want to find a wife, didn't have any interest in children or starting a family, and there would have been no reason for him to continue existing. But now, as his life's story unfolded before his eyes, without any inclination to stop snowballing, he realized he couldn't go off unless he wanted to incur the wrath of the harpie pinkette.

~For a split second, Sasuke shivered thinking about Sakura's volcanic anger. He may not have been afraid of the woman herself, but he was wary of her explosive ire, it wasn't something he wanted to intentionally bring around. People could lose body parts quite painfully if the Kunoichi suddenly felt wronged, he'd seen it happen to Naruto plenty of times. Her super strength was legendary even before she had been possessed by the goddess.

~During his travels with Orochimaru and sometime after while traipsing the country-side in Taka with Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo, he had managed a few solitary moments to read up on his old companions. Strictly for studying purposes, of course. That was the lie he had told himself, except somewhere deep within him begged for knowledge of the people he'd left behind. He had read up on Kakashi's denial to train anymore students for personal reasons and how his old sensei had taken up arms as the ANBU captain some time before Sakura's acceptance into their medical team. The former wasn't as impressive to him as the latter, though the youngest Uchiha had to admit it was a feat to be accepted into ANBU under any pretenses, the young man just hadn't thought Sakura was capable of such a thing on her own. There was also talk of Naruto being accepted as a liaison apprentice to Hokage Tsunade, even though looking at the Dobe bastard now, Sasuke could see why she accepted the blond so early. It would be years before the teen would be able to readily accept such a prestigious position with pride and the proper mannerisms set for such a high placement.

~"Sasuke! We don't even know where to start looking!" Naruto yelled, cutting into Sasuke's thoughts, but was swiftly silenced when his traveling partner suddenly flung a fireball jutsu in the Kyubbi's direction. Barely singed, and pride in a broken mass of flames, Naruto started into another fit of elicit curses and useless yelling, complaining loudly of how he was always being abused, muttering lowly that Sakura was the same way. That comment seemed to upturn the corners of the ebony haired man's lips, the pinkette hadn't changed _too_ much in his absence and for that he was glad.

_~"We're going to Otakagure,"_ he said to himself, _"it's the only place that knows everything."_ There was a disgusting feeling of foreboding snaking around in the pit of the Shinobi's gut as he thought about going into Sound territory, but he had to shake off the instinct before it forced him to have to find another way of searching out a certain missing rosette brat who couldn't seem to protect her damn self.

~"Sasuke!" Again, the Dobe was invading the Teme's thoughts and it was grating on his last nerve. Setting his jaw and glaring a head with zero intention of answering or turning back, he raced on through the trees and foliage.

~"Sasuke! We're being followed!"

~All thoughts came to a screeching halt. He sent out a searching wave of chakra to search their surroundings and sure enough there was a strange presence following in step not more than a few hundred feet away. That was a mistake, his mistake. It had been a long time since he had allowed himself to become so engrossed in his own mind that he allowed someone to get close to him without being noticed. Another reason he fumed at Sakura's ability to set his thoughts on tilt. Worse yet, which only added insult to injury, was that his stupid teammate, who couldn't even master a shadow clone jutsu in his first years as a Shinobi, had noticed the presence first.

~The two dredged on to prevent their following enemy from thinking anything amiss, but Sasuke slowed his pace to that of Naruto's so the two could exchange glances. Black optical orbs swirled to red and their owner nodded to the blonde companion as he formed a shadow clone of himself and allowed his real body to fade off into the darkness of the forest.

~Naruto pressed on with his doppelganger friend, silence sticking like a bad smell between them, the only amount of peace Sasuke had had since their departure from Konoha. He would be annoyed when it went away again, but for now he relished the tiny pleasures as they came.

~His soundless retreat and instantaneous cloaking of chakra made him invisible to their shadowed tail, and without a second for their stalker to regroup from the sudden energy surge in chakra, Sasuke was upon their enemy in a flash, eyes branded blood red as his Sharingan blazed heatedly. A set of two threaded kunais flailed out at all angles, forcing the unknown assailant to dodge in a startled panic, but his skills weren't any match for the Sannin of Orochimaru.

~The banded kunai wrapped around their intended target easily, their master manipulating the delicate looking strings with practiced ease and not a moment later Sasuke released a heated blast of fire jutsu that caught on the sticky substance lining his wire weapon and racing towards their victims like lightning. A yelp like a wounded animal came to the Shinobi's awaiting ears as the flaming cords scorched a red hot streak of burning fire through the darkened foliage with enough force to wrench someone limb from limb.

~Not a moment later the line went slack, a morbid thought invading the Uchiha's mind as he yanked back the Shinobi material, only to find its weighted end had been severed. Whoever this silent stalker was, he had great technique if they could escape such an unexpected attack.

~His eyes darted everywhere, fighting to find the chakra essence that had been hiding only seconds ago, now disappeared into nothingness. It didn't seem plausible, but it was true, Sasuke's nearly perfect Sharingan gaze couldn't find their intended target.

~A sudden movement jerked the Shinobi's attention to the side, nimbly dodging a thrown blade by mere centimeters and realizing too late that it was his own weapon. The nearly invisible wire wrapped tightly around his ankle before burying itself into the bark of a tree, momentarily keeping Sasuke still while the dark silhouette drew closer.

~"Stop struggling, boy. I am not here to cause trouble," the voice had a calming effect on the Uchiha's racing thoughts, making it difficult to continue fighting.

~"Who are you?" Sasuke growled, swiftly freeing himself just as Naruto and the shadow clone came crashing through the foliage, a late arrival… as usual.

~It took a long, lingering moment for the unknown assailant to come forward, but when he did it seemed the very fabric of time came to a screeching halt. Everything around the three Shinobis had a throbbing heartbeat. Everything that was alive took in a breath and exhaled softly, and without a sound. The trees rustled lightly, leaves that had been still were now whispering quietly as a contained god took a step into the light.

~His long grass green colored hair was delicately adorned with random pieces of nature; a flower here, twig there, a few leaves spread and twisted in some of the shining soft locks, coming down to the middle of his back, only to be tied back with a leather thong to stay out of his eyes. The peculiar shade of his mane was only matched by the piercing tone of unusual vibrancy that held a wild, ageless wisdom locked in his irises. There was a thousand lifetimes of understanding and experience swimming around in those grassy orbs, so much so that Sasuke knew without a doubt who this was without an introduction.

~"You're Horachikyu," Sasuke whispered breathlessly, his senses overwhelmed by the sudden barrage of prehistoric energy that clung to him and looked him over from outside to in. It pierced him to his core, deciphering his aura and feeling for the underlying intentions, acting almost of its own free will and twisting around his mind like some living creature.

~"Yes."

~Naruto felt the same immensity of overpowering strength and the Kyuubi purred within him, the inner demon's unspoken vie for control of this vessel was thrown instantly dormant. The nine-tail felt the presence of his creator in attendance and like the presence of his goddess mother, the more conniving piece of the ten-tail felt contented to fall into a lulling sleep.

~In a puff of smoke, Sasuke's clone was blown away while the men stared in awed silence until the slender formed god, whose rather short height seemed out of place for him, finally pulled back his choking energy.

~Sasuke let loose a relieving breath at last, no longer stifled by the continuous waves of rolling chakra. From his angle, he could see Naruto feeling the same. "Why are you following us?"

~Horachikyu sniffed the air, eyes closing before allowing his tanned lids to slowly blink back open. It was strange how ethereally _beautiful_ he appeared to look, like a half animal, almost other worldy.

~"You smell like my water sister. In fact, you both do, but you…" He drew closer to the Uchiha, moving to an uncomfortable distance only a hair's width wide, but Sasuke refused to be made to appear squirmy. "…Your body is saturated by Ganimaru, it is pleasantly intoxicating. What are you to her?"

~Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "I am nothing to Ganimaru, but the Kunoichi she inhabits is _my_ property."

~Naruto shot his partner a dangerous look, the Shinobi was trotting on hazardous ground and much more talk like that, about Sakura, and it was liable to start a needless fight.

~Sensing the tension in the air, the god inhaled deeply, "do not begin trivial problems, container, we have not the time." He was addressing Naruto, that much was crystal clear, "I feel my sister's power weakening, which means she is dying."

~Both leaf nins tensed, but the blonde was the first to react, blurring forward to grab two tight handfuls of the ancient demon's vine drapped, Land of the Grass Shinobi attire, but it only served to make the man angry.

~"Release me, spawn!" He rumbled, the very ground under their feet shaking at the sound, but the Dobe held fast.

~"She can't be dying, Sakura and the baby will die!"

~The engulfing stillness that enveloped them seemed endless; no one moved, no one spoke, no one even breathed. It wasn't until Sasuke made the first move did everything begin to shift again, "put him down, Dobe. If we want to find her before that happens, we need him."

~Naruto's hands shifted sluggishly at first, as if his brain was having to force his grip to loosen, but finally Horachikyu dropped the foot fall and everything became right in the world, for the moment.

~"Now, what do you want, god?" Sasuke yanked his imbedded kunai from the tree's thick bark, swiftly sacking it away in his weapon's pouch before crossing his arms over his tan, Leaf Shinobi vest.

~"To join you."

~"Then lead the way." Sasuke watched the ancient being nod wordlessly and bounce off into the trees, followed behind in close chase by his newly joined partners.

* * *

~When the duo had raced from Konohakagure they were stopped at the front gate by two men, both should have known someone would try to stop them, but they were surprised when it was a farewell party rather than two hostile guards there to drag them back to the hospital they had just managed to bust out of.

~Kakashi was holding a travel pack in his grip as Uzumaki and Uchiha came to a screeching halt. His one showing eye stared out stonily at his ex-pupils without saying a word.

Sasuke could easily recall the older sensei giving them scolding looks, but his gaze slowly softened, "just bring her back." He had said scowling, reaching forward to give a full pack to the team's dark haired leader, filled to the brim with needed supplies they had originally decided to leave without. The unheard of kindness came like a too sugary sweet blow in Sasuke's mind, and it took him a moment to open his hand to the pack, but he managed to take it haltingly.

~A look passed between Kakashi and Sasuke, while Naruto smilingly took the bundle from his toady sage teacher Jiraiya. It was an unspoken apology for everything the young man had done to the older these past years, and in return Kakashi nodded his forgiveness.

~"Your training will continue when you get back," Jiraiya ordered with a pervy sage expression dawning his older features.

~"Yes, Sensei," the blonde felt his shoulder being clapped hard from behind with more force than he was used to, losing his balance and falling flat on his face in the dirt.

~It had been a light-hearted moment with the two men chuckling in thick tensed humor, like old times. Even Sasuke cracked an almost invisible smile, and just as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

~"Let's go, Sasuke," Naruto muttered, rubbing his bruised face while cradling his broken pride, "we got a teammate to save."

~He nodded to the blonde, turning his gaze back to Kakashi, waiting only a second to see if something else was to be said. Gray eyes clashed with black and though the sensei might have had something to say, something held him back. Perhaps it was his brain telling his heart not to feel emotion, or the deep, hiding fear that his old student would leave again and thus making anything said here and now, to be useless and tired. Either way, Sasuke noted the silence to be the end of their wordless conversation and twisted around to head towards the gate leading out of Konoha.

~"_You,_ come back with her," Kakashi suddenly managed to grind out, the younger Shinobi pausing in mid stride, but he didn't look back.

~Naruto gave his closed eyed grin and showed the two remaining ninjas a double thumbs up, "I'll bring them both back if I have to drag them!"

~Nodding, the ANBU captain waved and slid his hands into his pockets, making head way back towards the Hokage's office. In a short few minutes an alarm would be raised when the men guarding the now empty hospital rooms came to, but by then the duo would be long gone. The only thing now was to prepare Tsunade before she had a coronary, and for this_ mission_ the silver haired man would have further need of the toady sage.

~"Hurry up, Jiraiya-san. Time to see the Hokage."

"Couldn't we just let it be? We're all ready going to be in deep for letting them go." Under normal circumstances, the more experienced Shinobi in life would have listened to the younger complain about leaving behind duty, but not in this case, Jiraiya was always one to shirk his duties when the going seemed to get hairy, especially where Lady Tsunade was involved.

~"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to reading my book." Without looking, he knew his white haired companion was still pouting, dragging his sandaled feet and lightly kicking over rocks, "I hear the woman's hot spring bathhouse is going to be full tonight." That seemed to bring life into the sage's haggard bones and he nearly skipped towards the Hokage's office, followed in tow by a stressed ANBU captain.

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

* * *

~If Sasuke was worried, he didn't show it, blurring ahead with swift footed accuracy. His pace didn't increase, he didn't seem particularly rushed, everything was typical, emotionless Uchiha. This was another mission to him and that rose Naruto's heckles to abnormal levels.

~"How can you be so calm?" He bellowed when his insides couldn't hold onto the pressure any longer. His face turned the same ruby color of a fresh tomato in his fury and made the silently stunned god fall behind a few yards to avoid the head exploding shrapnel.

~The Uchiha was implicitly wordless, battling his own inner demons and the last thing he wanted or needed was a dumb Dobe to reprimand him uselessly.

~"Hey, Teme! Answer me!" His angry, growling voice had steadily gone up an octave, the slathered on concern for Sakura was quickly intensifying.

~"Shut up, Naruto! We're going to save the useless Forehead now, there's no point in worrying." If his steaming teammate could observe the older Shinobi's thoughts, Naruto would have seen just how much Sasuke was hiding from everyone, but something deeper knew he was struggling to hide his emotions from himself. It was easier to pretend that he didn't care, no one could hurt him with his weaknesses then.

~"N-no… 'No point in worrying'? She could be dying! Your insane brother might have hurt her, raped her, did to her what he did to me! And you're telling me not to worry?" Naruto glared fiery daggers at his teammate, unsure if he should kill him now or after they rescued Sakura, but he was leaning towards the former.

~"You may not give a damn about her or that kid you put in her, but I-" Nothing prepared the Jinchuriki for the lightning speed at which the dark Shinobi moved. Everything happened so quickly that if one had blinked, they would have missed the flash of color and the splintering slam against a concrete hard tree.

~The blonde choked, a strong, unrelenting hand easily cut off his air supply, with no intention of releasing. A pair of red Sharingan eyes locked into surprised sky blue and Sasuke's pounding heart was only matched by his infuriated, labored breath.

~"Don't you ever…_ ever_ say I don't care about her. Your childish concern could _never_ match the feeling I have right now at this moment." He heard Naruto squeak something, but it didn't matter. What had needed to be said, had been and Sasuke's vice-grip loosened slowly, one agonizing finger at a time, leaving behind the screaming red/white marks of the ninja's bottled fury.

~This whole, rather startling argument had unfolded without a sound or complaint from Horachikyu, as he watched in morbid fascination these two teammates, whose strong, apparent bond to this unknown Kunoichi, his sister had inhabited, seemed to rival each other's so intensely, they were ready to go to blows for her. It had to have been the goddess' insanely attractive charm.

~In the end, the god sighed heavily as the group continued on. If they tried to brawl again, he knew the ensuing results would be catastrophic. The Jinchuriki was a force to be reckoned with, an overpowering demon with the strength of a broken god running through his veins should always be considered highly dangerous… but, something poured off the dark complexioned Leaf nin, an energy so huge, it held a kind of sick allure for the ancient being. The only problem with the obsidian haired Shinobi's power was… his was decidedly, horribly evil.

~Days passed in mostly heavy silence, the tension screaming louder than any of them could audibly reach, and no one wanted to break the noiseless air. They didn't feel the need to speak, the collective irritation at each other's presence had kept the conversations to one word questions and answers, not to mention the random male sounds that they used to replace speech.

~When the journey had dredged on, a week of constant traveling wearing on them and their thin ninja nerves, Horachikyu had caught something on the wind. This god was as intune with the Earth and its constant, changing happenings as Sasuke was with his Sharingan or Naruto to the Kyuubi. The earth was merely an extension of his chakra, his power, and if he said he knew where they should go, his directions were followed implicitly.

~Horachikyu could hear the winds whispering through the trees, gossiping about far off occurrences and listening for the sounds of his sister's power. It wasn't until an ancient tree called out to his godly master, begging the ageless being to wait while it told of a rumor.

~_'Old Lord,' _the tree rushed in an old tongue that only those who remembered could possibly have translated, _'I feel our beautiful mother with these old roots. My children speak of a young ninja woman brimming with olden energy. She comes from the North…from the bad country that cuts down our old ones for their fires of war.'_ The voice breathed in deeply, a breeze slicing through the surroundings as he continued,_ 'she is weak… her chakra waning thin.'_ It couldn't speak anymore, his whispery tone falling prey to the tides of time and his energy completely used up.

~"Uchiha, look for your mate, she's close."

~Without pausing to make some denying comment on the god's term for the pinkette, he sent out a searching wave of chakra and spotted the traveling woman nearly half a mile away. Her masked, exhausted life force flickered in low tendrils that leaked through her poorly placed guard, and just beyond her Sasuke felt another presence; smaller, more childlike, but other than that, the Kunoichi was alone. He nearly took off into the foliage when the god stopped him.

~"Wait," Chikyu murmured, his smaller form now pressed to the grass, the strange pose both Shinobi had now become accustomed to watching helped the old demon hear the sounds of the earth, "she's not alone."

~"It's a child."

~"There's three of them, a female with hair that smells faintly of blossoms, a loud male that plays a flute and feeds the animals… and a… monster that follows." Getting to his feet, the god dusted off his gray outfit and patted the hanging vines that encompassed his shoulders and waist, "the animals are afraid of the dark man, he smells like death."

~It was apparent Sakura was being transported, but to where and with whom was a mystery. Well, one body was accounted for, the monster was without a doubt, Itachi and because of this knowledge, the pit of Sasuke's gut gnawed viciously on itself. The animal instincts within him warned against going up with his brother so soon after his near lethal pummeling, but the demon in him screeched to get back what was stolen from him. She was _his_ and his brother would pay for taking her with his life.

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~Itachi was a slave driver, running his three man group to the edge of Sound ceaselessly for days since their last camp. They had only stopped now to allow the resident pregnant, small bladdered Kunoichi to relieve herself and eat real food, lest she go into barbaric rantings over the tyrannical abuse of her body.

~Though the on the fence Akatsuki member didn't seem one bit afraid of anything, let alone a foul tempered, insignificant Kunoichi. He was far from wanting to cause his brother's little pinkette more stress than was necessary. Her traveling so harshly in her condition was only tempting disaster, and though the older Uchiha knew the goddess would protect the unborn ones, he wasn't going to be held responsible for an accident.

~Sakura, in a fit of exhaustion leaned against a rough wood oak tree, sliding down until her aching ass and legs at last his the cool grass. Sweat poured in torrents off her cheeks and forehead, rolling down her body to wet her all ready drenched attire until the offensive smelling material clung uncomfortably to her entire frame. It was disgusting and she craved a scalding hot shower to scrub away the close to two weeks worth of nastiness. Though she wondered if even a boiling bath would get any of the grime to come off anyway.

~"Up, Kunoichi," Itachi ordered. He had fallen into calling her that instead of her name, much to her annoyance. There was a forming distance between them, border lining electrically painful. His gaze would incessantly watch her in everything she did, carving to hardened memory her movements, her voice, her body until no inch of her had gone unscathed by his remembering eyes.

~"I can't," she hissed breathlessly whimpered, eyes rolling tiredly into the back of her head. She resembled a beaten puppy. A dehydrated, exhausted, ready to shakingly collapse puppy.

~Itachi's furtive eyes glanced quickly around, mind telling him they needed to leave soon or their collective enemies would catch up and he didn't have the remaining vestiges of chakra to deal with them without help, but the two ninjas he paraded through Sound country weren't exactly good fighting options. Sakura shouldn't be fighting in her condition, period, and the Jinchuriki, though possessing the slug demon had some of the weakest chakra levels he had ever seen before. It was a miracle he had lasted as long as he had against Deidara before the Uchiha had come to scare off the two artists. Now, it didn't matter, his old leader had sent others after them, only two, but they weren't to be take lightly.

~"Itachi," Sakura mumbled, watching him closely and seeing his apprehension, "what do you sense?" His swirling Mangekyo held her captive for a moment before sweeping away and peeking off into the distance.

~"Your_ husband_ is here."

~Sakura froze, her back rigid and eyes wide, the last thing she had expected was for Sasuke to come for her even though she had wished severely for it.

~A shadowed image blurred across her vision then, charging for Itachi and pausing just short when the Akatsuki member skillfully let fly a few poisoned senbons, taken from her own pouch only days before. Itachi had formed a bad habit of taking things when he thought they would be of use, usually he did it without asking and in most cases didn't return them, the only thing that saved him from the pinkette's wrath seemed to be her constant fatigue, as the passed few weeks disallowed her the ability to fight back for the injustice of missing weapons. Plus, she couldn't have used them if she tried, she could barely lift herself most days, lifting weapons was out of the question.

~Naruto ground his fanged teeth together, leaping back to prevent injury from the needle projectiles, "give me Sakura." He was practically growling, fighting to keep the surging Kyuubi's presence from ripping his consciousness apart.

~Fiery ruby eyes glared down the younger male, a sudden smile dancing across his lips, "if you're here, that means my little brother isn't far."

~"Here," Sasuke said emotionlessly, standing over Sakura as she gaped at her teammate's sudden presence.

~A zephyr wind whipped up around them, swirling at the feet of the black, red cloud caped Shinobi and the container Jinchuriki, slamming into each of them as their chakra waves battle for an edge.

~"Um, well… I'm Utakata and I'm very confused," the honey colored irises flashed in the foliage darkness and he stepped out from his hiding place, his filthy blue kimono hanging completely off his shoulders and sitting low on his narrow, boney hips. He took in the scene before him and waited for an attack, trying deciding his first course of action.

~Sakura scrambled ungracefully to her feet, but her knees buckled half way through and sent her sprawling back into the grass. In her mind Ganimaru was shrieking for her to be cautious, the precious energy reserves she was feeding to the Kunoichi in a slow, dripping flow was running on empty and there wasn't anything the goddess or the medical nin vould have done about it.

~"I'm going to hurt you for what you did to me back in Konoha Forest. I don't forget things easily," the blonde's lips upturned into an unsettling smile, a kunai in his right hand waiting in the defensive position.

~"I see," Itachi said shortly, they didn't have time for this. His little brother and his Dobe teammate needed to get the Slug Jinchuriki and the Kunoichi out of here before their _unwanted_ guests arrived, but something inside the ex-Akatsuki member's mind told him that this orange suited ninja wasn't going to listen to reason.

~Naruto blurred forward for the first attack, dodging a thrown kunai that managed to nick his shoulder before flying off behind him. He raced at Itachi's front and paused for only a millisecond and then disappeared, his body shifting behind the cloaked assailant and slashing out quickly. His short, bladed weapon his home and cut easily through the black cape, the clearing around them filled with the man's pained screech.

~He watched as Itachi took a knee and bled profusely from a deep, nasty gash at his back. Somewhere in the Jinchuriki's mind, something told him this seemed wrong, but he didn't have the mindful wherewithal to understand why.

~Itachi's head slowly turned, his twisting and turning Mangekyo catching the younger Shinobi in their intense hold. It was then that everything around Naruto turned to flames and he saw Konoha burning to the ground. People were shrieking in fear and pain, running around wildly as the fires engulfed their bodies. Children sat crying as loved ones ran and left them to fend for themselves, some even lying dead close by in pools of their own red essence, their cold, silent eyes staring lifelessly out in wordless screams that no one would ever hear again.

~Naruto's friends were dead too; Neji, Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, everyone dead and motionless by some powerful, unseen force that struck them down before they had even had the chance to fight. It was more than the teenager could handle, he fell to his knees, hugging his hands to his head and bellowing to the skies.

~"This is only a minute in my Tsukuyomi. How long do you think you would last?" A voice fluttered in, and two firm hands gripped tight to the younger man's shoulders.

~Then it was all gone, the bodies, the screams, the burning flames. He looked through the spaces in his fingers and saw the billowing cloak of Itachi, flapping in the wind. Only a second had moved and all around him other pairs of eyes staring in concern, hoping he was all right.

~"Dammit, Dobe!" Sasuke yelled and drew Kusanagi painfully slow, the sound of metal grinding on metal rang in Sakura's ears and she snatched up his leg.

~"Don't, Sasuke! We have to go!" She pleaded with him, her cries heard on deaf ears. "More Akatsuki are coming, they'll be here soon!" The youngest Uchiha ignored her and raced forward, ripping away from her grasp and throwing the first attack his brother actually had to dodge.

~Both Leaf nins attacked their intended target, each other throwing different moves that Itachi fought hard to defend against, though he did it was practiced ease. Years of coping with murderers and villans had taught him how to handle situations far worse than two healing Shinobis with barely enough chakra between the two of them to form a proper summoning jutsu.

~"Stop it! Stop fighting!" The pinkette screeched and flung herself to her feet, ready to charge into the fighting triplets and tear them apart by force, but a forceful hand gripped tight to her shoulder, nearly crushing it.

~"Don't move, bitch. I'm not happy to be out here capturing a bountyless Kunoichi, but Pein wants you and the Jinchuriki alive." A masked Akatsuki member came into her peripheral vision and hushed her shaking limbs to perfect stillness, even though she was obviously terrified.

~"If you're here," she whispered, slowly coming to a horrifying conclusion, "that means-"

~"The disciple of Jashin is here too, time to make a fucking sacrifice!" Hidan came crashing from the bushes, loudly announcing their presence and forcing a stressed sigh to escape Kakuzu's throat. He had wanted to go the route of complete secrecy, taking no time out to have to fight the pinkette's saviors and their old Uchiha organization member, but to assume Hidan would do anything as he ordered was an unheard of stretch.

~Itachi, Naruto, and Sasuke froze in their fight to turn towards Sakura, Kakuzu's masked face hanging like a grinning ghost in the forest's darkness just above her head. His fingers moved to grasp around her neck and in an instant he snatched her back and she disappeared into the obscurity, her shriek of terror echoing in the three Shinobi's ears.

~Utakata was all ready in the process of blocking Hidan's red scythe with his measly flute and grinning like an idiot gone mad when Hidan ordered the container to hold still while he tried to kill him.

~For a split second, Itachi and Sasuke looked at each other with some semblance of understanding and nodded in agreement before leaping apart and going after their new designated targets; Sasuke to the pinkette, while Itachi gave chase after the Jinchuriki, leaving the blonde Dobe confused and wildly glancing around for answers.

~"Stay back Uchiha brat or I'll _forget_ I need her alive and let her blood spill," Kakuzu's threat appeared genuine, but he held no weapons to the girl's throat, only his hands tightly clasping the tender flesh where beneath she shook in fright almost violently.

_~"Sakura! Stop shaking, he can tell your scared."_

~The girl ignored the voice and closed her eyes when tears rushed to the surface, threatening to slide down her cheeks and the muscular, cloaked man tightened his grip, rubbing his disgusting face across her cheek.

~"She reeks of fear, it's intoxicating. Maybe she is _worth_ my expensive time," he enjoyed her shudders, taking them in like a sweet sake he couldn't get enough of.

~"Let her go and I won't kill you."

~Kakuzu stared at his enemy blankly and broke into maniacal laughter, "you!" More laughing cut off anything else he was trying to say, and just as quickly as it came, it was gone, replaced by a frigid stare, "so show me, whelp."

~Unsure of how to continue, Sasuke hesitated, much to the man's delight and he grinned ferally, "I knew you didn't have the balls."

~_"Let go, you imbecile!" _Ganimaru bellowed, her voice streaking through Sakura's vocal cords and in a final blast of effort she formed a ball of energy, letting it course through her veins in a near volcanic reaction that raced from her head and heart to the tips of her fingers and toes, causing an explosion that rocked their surroundings.

~Kakuzu flew backwards into trees and branches, leaving behind a mess of broken limbs and twisted wreckage. When his body finally came to sudden halt, he lie motionless and it was unknown if he was dead or unconscious, but Sasuke wasn't going to take the chance of either.

~Sakura felt the last vestiges of her strength yanked from her grasp and darkness clawed furiously at her consciousness, inwardly Ganimaru was a flurry of movement, careening herself from one end of the pinkette's body to the other in some semblance of chaotic order as she fought to transfer her own dwindling chakra to her life support. Inside her, the unborn fetuses remained still, their heartbeats getting quieter and quieter with every passing second.

~She began to fall, thoughts sluggishly coursing through her temporal lobe in no sense of order, but in the forefront of her brain, like a constant battering ram, she remembered the twins and begged Ganimaru with her one remaining conscious thought to protect them no matter what. And amidst the darkness she heard the goddess simply reply, _"always."_

The Shinobi was to her side in an instant, scooping her up tightly and bringing her limp form close to his face. His dark Sharingan twisted wildly in his eyes, searching frantically for a pulse, for chakra points, for anything to determine whether the woman was alive or dead.

~"You do not have long," Horachikyu stated, his voice even and steady. Green eyes flashed concern, but he knew this wasn't his time or place to allow his emotions to take over, this was for the humans they created. This was their time and their world, if anything, he was the thing that didn't belong, as much as Ganimaru didn't belong here either, though at the moment the goddess didn't have a choice.

~"How long?" Sasuke whispered, barely making it above a breathy exhale, yet he was heard.

~"Hours, a day at most. The goddess may not die, she can't, but your mate can. She can and will perish without treatment." Behind them, a bellowed explitive hit the air and the downed Akatsuki member struggled to his feet, splinters and chunks of broken wood and torn vegetation slipping off his body. "Go, boy. I'll handle this rouge."

~Sasuke didn't have to be asked twice and bolted off intot he underbrush in hopes of collecting Naruto to decide a plan.

* * *

**Itachi Uchiha Age: 25**

* * *

~He watched in expressionless morbidity as Hidan cussed up a maelstrom from his now shortened position. His legs were strewn across the clearing, having laid to rest exactly where they had fallen when Itachi cut them off with his short sword. It gave new meaning in the older Uchiha's mind about the term, _'cutting problems down to size.'_ He had never before given it the same thought as he did now and turning his brown black gaze towards the armed torso, he knew that Hidan would be useless until Kakuzu came to fix him.

~"We should go find pink and terrifying," Utakata jested, cradling his broken arm against his bleeding chest, a long and nasty gash lining it from shoulder to hip. Mostly superficial wounds and a closed end break, the slug container thought nothing of except for it was painful and the medical nin they conveniently had on hand was nowhere in sight.

~Itachi nodded and started towards his little brother's chakra signature, finding it seemingly fine and without much weakening. He wondered briefly what was happening, but knew he would know in a moment whether he wanted to or not.

~"Is she breathing?" Naruto gaped loudly, standing over his hunched friend and unconscious teammate. Worry was etched clearly on his face and in his concerned eyes, leaving no room for anything else except the Kunoichi girl he had come to love in the Uchiha's absence.

~"Her chakra's depleted, we need to get her to Konoha_ now_," Itachi said, pulling free of the shadow's gripping hold. His cloak looked disheveled, the thong holding his thin ponytail missing and allowing his dark hair to blow wildly in the breeze. He looked almost feral, like a wild thing that would never be tamed.

~Sasuke rose to his feet, taking his fallen charge with him and turned to face his brother, "we can't make it there fast enough on foot. It'll take too long, she'll be dead before we get there."

~"I can teleport us all, but I'd need some chakra from the Jinchurikis, or we'll never make it there." Everyone except the slug demon glared at the older Uchiha, his suggestion of even showing his face in Konoha would have caused some kind of disturbance in the proverbial force. It defied all laws of things natural and otherworldly. A murderer returning to the place where he caused so much death and destruction was unheard of, especially when only his demise would be accepted as penance.

~"They won't even give you a trial if you're caught," Sasuke said, his voice void of emotion, but one could easily catch the twitch in his jaw. The muscle underneath was leaping in irritation and restrained fury, one wrong word and everyone knew he just might drop Sakura and charge his brother.

~"I know."

~"And you don't care?" Naruto asked incredulously.

~"I have to protect the Kunoichi."

~"Don't. She's not yours to protect." The younger brother was sniping for low blows when and where he could, unable to take the small distance between himself and the reason for his grief and murderous rage these past years.

~Containing himself and swallowing the retort, Itachi nodded and pulled his cloak closer around him, "are we going to save your wife and sons, or do we let them die?"

~"Why do you care?"

~"I will answer everything you ask me when we get her to a hospital." That ended the conversation almost as quickly as it had begun and begrudgingly, Naruto laid his hand haltingly on the Akatsuki murderer's shoulder, seething underneath the surface with white-hot wrath he wanted so badly to let loose. Utakata followed in suit not a second later and Itachi made ready the necessary jutsus to teleport so many all at once.

~"Kyuubi container, think of where in the hospital we need to go." And with the image plastered firmly in Naruto's thoughts, the older man finished the needed hand signs and they were suddenly gone, leaving behind only small traces of having even been there, aside from the two strewn Akatsuki member bodies.

* * *

**Tsunade Senju Age: (Don't ask -.-;;)**

* * *

~Tsunade was wading elbow deep in a surgery to remove a burst appendix when she smelled and sensed a strange chakra signature that burst like fire into her mind. She didn't recognize it at first, but felt it closely resembled one of her_ problems_ she had to address when _he_ decided to finally come back. At first, she only froze, listening to her surgery aides making comments about the Hokage's weariness and asking to take over.

~When the woman stepped back, peeling off her gloves, she took only a second to throw them in the trash before she bolted from the O.R. and ran racing down the halls towards her destination. Something was wrong, she knew it, and she was needed.

~"_**TSUNADE**!_" Shizune roared, shaking the hospital almost on its axis and the Hokage burst into the emergency wing, finding eight ANBU Shinobis in the defensive position, one of which was the masked Kakashi with blades drawn in protective stances, as the startled group that consisted of Naruto, Sasuke holding a felled Sakura, Itachi, and some strange Water nin stood.

~"She's drained," was all Sasuke managed to get out just as the two Jinchurikis and Itachi collapsed from over exhertion. The jutsu had worked, but had taken its toll on all of them and left them utterly useless.

~Tsunade nodded and took the Kunoichi swiftly and laid her lovingly on a stretcher, wheeling her away as the ANBUs descended upon the group and yanked them to their own rooms for emergency care.

* * *

Author's Note: Working on finishing 25, 26, and 27 because I had them COMPLETELY written out when my laptop decided to crash. I'll try to have them up soon. Thank you for continuing to stay with me, and I hope to have you all R/R. Thank you!

P.S. this is VERY VERY VERY rough, I will come correct it when I return from this costume con tonight. Sorry, bear with me.

Lady A.r.r.o.


	25. Elders That Lied

**Author's Note**: YAY! I made it to another chapter! Whoot! I'm so proud of me!

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto! T.T If I did Sakura wouldn't be such a puss…

* * *

_**Chapter 25**_  
_**Elders That Lied**_

___"Being innocent is a state of mind.  
If you believe you didn't do something hard enough.  
If you truly believe it long enough,  
Your mind will inevitably tell you that you're innocent.  
Even if you **aren't**.  
But what happens to those who are innocent,  
And believe long enough that they're **not**?  
Would you have the courage to stand up  
To tell others the **truth**?  
I didn't think so..."_

_~Lady A.R.R.O.**  
**_

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~_She was falling, shifting, going deeper and deeper into the deep, endless obsidian pools of liquid blackness that surrounded her, engulfed her, consumed her, drowned her… But amidst the shifting streams of flowing aqueous fluid she could see images forming the deeper she dove. Pictures of her life, past and present floated around her through the eyes of others and she could see herself going through stages of her life from awkward beginnings, to graceful adulthood. She could feel the love and tenderness brimming in the hearts of those who looked on with motherly, fatherly, brotherly, sisterly, friendly devotion, each one watching as she grew up and became the woman she was now._

_~Delving further into the darkness, she saw more lighted images in the depths, of things she hadn't yet witnessed and one in particular drew her attention. Flames burned brightly, scorching the land and all those who dared leap into its path. The color of onyx ash, the fires ripped through the war torn lands without end or reason, eating away the vegetation, carving away the stone, drying out the oceans and seas. People cried out in a long, agonizing wail for the gods of old to protect them, but their voices went unheeded as more death and destruction was wrought upon the earth. _

_~From the far off distance, Sakura could see armies clashing, at first only dark spots converging on one another as one side struggled to battle out another, but the closer she got, the more the spots gained shapes, than detail, and then there was recognition. Her friends, those she had fought with, bled with, laughed with, cried with, they were fighting a war against unseen foes with blurred out faces and never ending chakra. This war seemed to last forever, those dying on both sides, except for the faceless Shinobi of her enemies, they seemed to always rise after they fell… and her friends did not._

_~There was a loud roar that shook the earth beneath the pinkette's feet and in the distance she could see humungous beings drawing closer to the battlefield; nine of them with bodies that appeared to twist and churn as their power surged and wavered around their mortal bodies. They joined the combat with an unsettling aura, driving back the faceless foes with great ease, blowing apart the enemy and driving home towards the dark castle that had grown from a tiny speck on the horizon, to a foreboding tower that skimmed the clouds._

_~Her friends and fellow ninja in arms, many from politically hostile nations to Leaf, let out a loud battle cry, the sound so long and piercing that it seemed to go on forever in the sea of fighting soldiers. Everyone knew what this war meant, they could feel it deep in the confines of their hearts, shaking them clear down to the roots of their souls. This battle was to tear the forces of good from the hands of evil tyranny, brought on by those who would see innocence smashed beneath a cold boot heel. A hundred thousand lives, perhaps more relied on this battle to be won against the dead legions brought on by a power hungry god who sought to tear away life._

_~The god of Wind shrieked with fiery fury when his myriad horde of undead corpse copies ran in fear, pushed back by the sheer, overwhelming force of those who fought with their blood and lives to protect their land and their loved ones. He sent raining down upon his adversaries, a volley of lightning bolts to scorch and stir the continent, unaware of the presence of those with power coming to tear him apart._

_~Energy was pulled steadily from the land, killing crops, forests, and animals. Chasms that broke the land apart and drained the oceans, made never ending gouges on the earth and began the final hope to annihilate the one last enemy barring the way to eternal peace and prosperity for the land of **Tenjoukai-Koi***. This would make the world or break it asunder and it was a sacrifice those who inhabited the land were willing to give…_

_~Sakura watched in subdued silence as the world around her darkened and a piercing ray of energy tore into the castle, crumbling it on its foundation and ripping apart the god of the Wind… and then the world ended…_

* * *

~Morning brought consciousness, consciousness brought pain, and with pain brought a strange, settling contentedness that Sakura was glad for. The pain meant she was alive, and the tiny flutterings in her belly were the only thing keeping her grounded to this reality.

~"_Good morning,"_ Ganimaru whispered, _"I'm... glad... you're awake."_

~Sakura nodded once, very shortly, the tiny movement making her head spin and her gut clench uncontrollably. Nausea was the first thing she felt and in an involuntary body function, the woman threw her upper torso over the edge of her bed and vomited on the ground, eyes bolting open finally to let in piercing rays of bright sunlight. When the fit ceased and she eased herself back into the crisp, white hospital bed, she blearily searched the room's confines for signs of life.

~Kakashi stood noiselessly in the corner, sitting rather comfortably in a chair reading a book, only having looked up from his page when his ex-pupil's gaze landed upon him. He smiled as charmingly as ever, eye squinting slightly and climbing to his sandaled feet, "rude awakening."

~"You have no idea," she mumbled, her mouth holding onto the bitter aftertaste of bile.

~"Would you like some water?" He asked, going for the sink without waiting for her reply and filling a cup with the crystal clear liquid from the tap. She took it gratefully and drank slowly, hoping to keep the hydration down, lest more yellow stomach acid decide to come up, at least with a wetted throat it wouldn't burn this time.

~"Where is-"

~"Sasuke?" The older sensei offered and Sakura shook her pink head.

~"Itachi."

~"I'm surprised you'd ask where your kidnapper is," there was a slight note of skeptical questioning lacing his voice, but it was easily shrugged off.

~"He helped keep me and Utakata alive after we escaped the Akatsuki compound. Even if he had kidnapped me, he redeemed himself afterward." She debated the intelligence of getting up, looking down to her ungloved hands and clenching them into fists before deciding she was strong enough to move. Her chakra wasn't completely back, but it would only be a short few hours before she was in fighting form again, that would please the goddess she was sure.

~Pulling back the blanket, she moved her feet to the side of the bed and proceeded to stand, but Kakashi was at her side in a blurring instant, his hands keeping her firmly rooted to the bed. "I think you should stay here, Sakura," his tone was absolute and held no room for argument.

~"I need to get up, Kakashi. My body is going to explode if I keep laying down, how long have I been sleeping anyway?"

~"Ten days."

~Within Sakura she felt the goddess tense, even she hadn't been privy to the lapse of time lost while inside the depths of blissful, albeit strange unconsciousness, filled to the brim with dreams and predilections of strange futures.

~"How did I get here?"

~Kakashi helped the pinkette to her feet, knowing her stubborn nature would refuse to keep herself confined if he pressed too much. His arm allowed her a leaning hold so she didn't fall and after a brief few seconds to test the strength in her legs, she let the ANBU Captain go with a pretty smile.

~"Sensei," Sakura said sharply, feeling the man's hestitation to answer her prior question, " how did I get here?"

~"Itachi teleported you and the others right into the emergency room to save you."

~She absorbed this information, not really taking in anymore than that. If Itachi actually allowed himself to be seen here in Konoha, that meant he had put himself in danger. The elders would demand his head on a platter for allowing their deceit to almost be found out, and no one save herself and the man in question knew the truth.

~Her body stiffened tight like a strung bow, spine erect and ready to flee away if she needed to. Kakashi may not have ever had the want or the order to hurt her, but she was sure deep down that he was here to keep her from doing something stupid, mainly causing a scene that would make the elders look bad by say... revealing Itachi for what he truly was, a misunderstood criminal that wasn't a criminal at all.

~"Where is_ he_?" She almost audibly hissed, chakra pulled from the goddess poured off her skin and forced the ANBU, tactically trained Shinobi to pull back a few inches. If he wasn't scared, which Sakura highly doubted he was, nothing scared men of Kakashi's caliber, he was trying to keep from being overwhelmed by the power Sakura tried to drown him in.

~"Stay calm, Sakura. Don't lose your temper," he said evenly, the stress in his voice betraying how hard he was struggling against the cataclysmic amount of warbling energy threatening to drain his own.

_~"Where is he? _" Her mind bellowed, the snaking cold feeling pouring into her gut forced the sparking white explosions in front of her eyes to trigger a red, hazy film of schorching fury to streak through her. For once in her life, she felt the insatiable need to go against everything she had known and believed in, to protect someone who deserved retribution.

_~"Sakura, stay calm. Listen to your teacher, exploding won't do anyone any-"_

~The pinkette snatched up Kakashi's front, driving him into the opposite wall and cracking the plaster beneath the combined weight and strength of an infuriated Kunoichi. "Where is he?" Her eyes were the first to change, narrowing to thin slits as the emerald colored irises melted to ocean blue and took over her entire optical orb. The swirling chakra that oozed from her every pore made light work of the gravity around her, her pink tresses floating without the blockade of weight to stop them.

~A sound like rippling water croaked from her throat and she drew inexplicably closer, fangs overlapping her lower lip like sharpened pikes ready to pierce the soft, covered flesh of Kakasi's throat where beneath his pulse practically leaped.

~"Where. Is. Itachi?" She could smell his fear, taste the great Hakate, of whom she had come to greatly respect and adore, actually afraid.

~"The elders are sentencing him to death at the stadium."

~Sakura nodded and released her teacher, everything about her form suddenly shifting to what she used to be. Her irises reappeared and the blue film receded, the forest green shining brightly through. Her hair fell back to her shoulders and the enormous energy retreated to its master without a sign of every having been there.

~"Captain?" Someone yelled from the other side of the closed door, rapping lightly on the wood. It sounded like Neji, but Sakura couldn't have been sure, the voice had been too low.

~"I'm fine," the man answered, "Sakura's… stretching her legs." He turned back to her and lowered his tone, leaning in close to the Kunoichi's ear, "is it important to save this murderer?"

~Sakura nodded quickly, "he didn't do it. We need to save him. Please, Kakashi!"

~There was a deep inhale of breath as the man deduced his remaining options. Never in his life had Sakura ever asked anything of him to this degree, in fact she'd never asked for anything of him and to do so now only brought to the light the enormity of the request.

~"The elders won't be pleased. Tsunade will be disappointed."

~"I know," she whispered, "I'll take my punishment from shishou, but the elders are condemning an innocent man to keep their lies in the dark."

~Kakashi looked to the window, seeing a tiny blue bird come streaking across his view. It was a beautiful day outside, he was sad to be inside. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" He sighed and walked to the window, "get dressed, Sakura. You can't be running around town in your night gown and panties."

~In an instant she tore across the room and stripped to her birthday suit, much to Kakashi's blushing embarrassment. He tried to look away while the naked woman slipped into the clothes she was sure Tsunade or Hinata had left for her in the dresser beside the hospital bed,slinking her way into them and racing for the window before Kakashi even had a moment to breathe.

* * *

~Another knock banged on the door and was flung open when there was no answer, "dammit!" Neji cursed, raising a hand to his earpiece, "she's coming! Dammit! Ten-Ten, stop her!"

* * *

~"You know the charges put against you, Itachi Uchiha," Koharu Utakane said, not a question. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

~A beaten and battered Uchiha shifted underneath the heavy weight of chakra sealing chains, struggling with everything he possessed to look up, but he hadn't the strength. Ten days under heavy ANBU guard, sitting in a damp and dreary cell without daylight, food, and only a few mouthfuls of water had taken their toll on him. He wanted to look into the eyes of the men and lone woman who had condemned him by covering up a mess they hadn't protected him from. He dreamed of this moment, when he could meet their gaze and glare lethal daggers as they passed their judgment, leaving him to hold onto his pride because it was the only thing they could strip from him.

~"Answer your elder, Uchiha!" Shimura Danzo yelled, startling a few people in the crowd. The trial had gathered in the Elder's Room for debating Konoha issues, but when it was found out that the Uchiha hearing was open to the public, the masses poured out. When the man was quite nearly dragged from his cage, people spit on him and threw things, a few of the harder objects hitting home and almost knocking the wobbling Shinobi down. He had sunk to a new low, many wondering how this_ man_ could possibly have been part of the Akatsuki, his current appearance wasn't so impressive.

~"I… I… can't," he crackled, his low tone crackling like dry rice paper.

~In the lower stands, closest to the floor, Naruto and Sasuke sat together, the orange suited Shinobi sitting with his arms over his chest while the younger Uchiha quietly listened to the whole ordeal without really hearing what was said. Inside he was seething, an angry mass of twisting emotions that screamed and bellowed to be heard, but he stifled them in order to keep himself under control. He had other things needing to occupy his thoughts, mainly that his trial would be after his brother's, set to determine his own fate in Konoha… or out of it.

~"Seeing as how Itachi cannot deny these allegations against him, it is so deemed that for his transgressions against his home, his village, his people… Itachi Uchiha, son of Fugaku Uchiha and Mikoto Uchiha is sentenced to death." The surging of in held breath all around the elders was released in a long rush of relief. No one stood in Itachi's defense. No one helped.

~Homura Mitokado, a spectacled man with graying hair and a grouchy disposition, motioned for the masked ANBU executioner to step forward, carrying a long sword that was identified as Itachi's own. It was tradition to use one's own weapon of destruction against them; a life for a life in the essence of getting what one gives to the world. Itachi was receiving what he gave to karma, and some thought his punishment was too lenient.

~The masked ninja waited as Itachi was forced to his knees, his filthy training garb torn and dirty in most places. He looked dejected with an expression of emotionless angst plastered to his face. This wasn't how things were _supposed_ to happen, he wasn't _supposed_ to die this way, not in an execution carried out by the very men hiding his past. His little brother was _supposed_ to avenge their fallen and in a fit of last moment breath, Itachi was _supposed_ to tell his brother one thing, something more important than his sacrifice for his family. The one thing he knew would mean more to his brother than his damn revenge…

~Itachi forced whatever shreds of strength he had left into his legs, standing up, even against the fighting hold of the ANBU men around him. He looked up and searched the crowd for his little brother, finding the younger without too much problem. He raised a weak and shaking hand, his two first fingers extended as he mouthed the words to the young Uchiha, _"…sorry, Sasuke… but there won't be a next time."_

~Sasuke narrowed his eyes on his brother, the man's last-ditch effort to speak to him, it clearly appalled fate. This Shinobi who had tried for the past ten days to speak to him, to tell him whatever sad, sob story Itachi could, to make amends to a brother who wanted nothing of it.

~_"Sorry, Sasuke… but there won't be a next time."_

~A whirl of thoughts raced through Sasuke's mind, a film reel of past memories welled up inside him and only one stuck like glue. The edges of his memory had faded, the color having been sponged from his past, and most of the sound was filtered out until all that was left behind was an ancient movie with dulled noise.

* * *

_~"Hey! Itachi, look at this! I want to show you something!" Sasuke saw a younger version of his older brother walking through the edge of the Uchiha compound property, donned in his ANBU gear, he carried an elaborately decorated tonto, one his baby brother wanted to be passed onto him when he was old enough, but for now the squirt was a million miles away from that._

_~Itachi turned slowly and peered at his pipsqueak of a little brother, smiling falsely, "show me what, Sasuke?" Exhaustion throbbed in his temple and he wanted to drop, but he felt he needed to see what the boy had learned today._

_~"Father showed me our family fire jutsu!" The younger Uchiha seemed so proud of him and smiled ecstatically, spinning on heel and aiming for the training rock Itachi himself used to use in his academy days._

_~A quick few hand motions later and the boy inhaled deeply, blowing out a stream of schorchingly hot red and orange flames that sprayed through his lips and charred the smoother surface of the rock, jarring the bells hanging on the other side. Their sound rang out and Sasuke stopped the fire, looking to his brother, grinning happily._

_~"Great job, little brother. Father would be proud," he turned to leave, but a hand reached out to grab his. It was a tiny hand, a child's, Sasuke's. He pulled against his older brother and forced the teenager to stop._

_~"Train with me, Itachi. Please, I want to get better." The stoked embers in the boy's eyes begged silently, and yet they wouldn't be happy today… or ever again, not because of him._

_~"Next time, Sasuke. Maybe next time," he pulled his hand away and trudged towards the compound, towards his room, towards his bed, towards sleep. _

* * *

~The sound of Itachi's words echoed long and hard into Sasuke's mind and drew out an emotion the younger man didn't know he still possessed. Regret. He suddenly regretted his brother's imminent death.

~Finally gaining control of the situation, Itachi was thrown to his knees, the joints cracking underneath the pressure, and the executioner raised the sword high above his head, the sun blocking out much of what the ex-Akatsuki member could see. He coldly remembered the mask, its red and white markings carved into his mind like the one he used to wear. The cold porcelain and steel had felt cool in his hands, and the weight of such an enormous responsibility had been heavy on his heart, but he took it all with pride and a very large… very fake smile.

~The sword was coming down now, its deathly sharp blade screaming through the air, waiting to taste the blood of its next victim.

~"What is the meaning of this?" Danzo shrieked, toppling over his chair in his haste to get to his feet. He couldn't believe it, not the flash of pink hair, not that Itachi's head didn't roll, not any of it.

~"Sakura!" Tsunade yelled, "get out of the way!" The older blonde woman had forced herself to remain contrite in her reticence, she held no power here and it fumed her to know that.

~"No, shishou!" She cried, dispelling the chakra around her fingers that had stopped the blade only centimeters from the Uchiha's neck. Her hand snatched the blade away from the shocked ANBU ninja and pushed the man back with more strength than was needed and watched as he crashed and rolled away into the stands, causing some mayhem.

~"I'm not going to stand around while an innocent man is convicted of a crime he didn't commit!" Sakura angrily faced the elders, watching their faces contort from shock and stunned wordlessness, to angry fury.

~"How dare you!" Utatane was climbing to her feet now, with more finesse than her rowdy comrade. "This trial is for the _murderer_ of the Uchiha Clan. How can you protect this scum!"

~"Because he didn't commit these crimes! How can you three stand there under the veil of righteousness when you're just as guilty as those who actually murdered the Uchiha Clan!"

~Mitokado sputtered wildly, the indignity of the whole situation grating on his last nerve. The heat from the sun was beaming down just a little bit too hotly and he had hoped the proceedings to have concluded all ready, but enough distractions had prevented that. Now there was _this_.

~"How dare you implicate your elders of anything but protecting this village," Danzo was moving around his table now, coming closer to the Kunoichi who dared to defend a criminal and slander the elderly.

~"I dare!" The pinkette could feel the blood pumping profusely through her temples, she was walking on dangerous ground, ones that were liable to get her and her babies condemned.

~People all around them were whispering, some angry, others concerned, mostly everyone was confused. And in the middle of the chaotic storm, Sasuke and Naruto were standing at attention on the edge of the stands, making ready to leap to their teammate's aide should she be in need of it.

~"Well, Haruno Sakura," Mitokado finally managed to find his voice and leaned forward on his desk, testing the waters of the Kunoichi's courage, "how are we guilty and this criminal innocent?"

~"You covered up the real murderer of the Uchiha Family Massacre," the village's hushed whispers went up an octave, people were debating this new information.

~"Oh, please, Haruno. Do tell us who killed the Uchihas," Homura's presence was menacing, like a frightening old man one would see in the thrall of a nightmare. His beady eyes glowered down at Sakura from his perch, frigidly daring her to reveal the secrets of Elders, and promising her pain when she did.

~"Mad-" a hand snatched up her own from below and Sakura gasped, glancing down into the Sharingan eyes of Itachi as he struggled to get to his knees.

~"Don't," he whispered, "…I'm… afraid."

~Sakura knelt down beside the Shinobi and cradled his face in her hands, caressingly rubbing his tattered cheek and torn lip, "it's all right. Don't be afraid anymore." She kissed his forehead and hoped he could have some of her courage, "it'll all turn out all right."

~She rose back to her feet, leaving Itachi to marvel at the woman's strength of heart, "Madara Uchiha and the ancient god of Wind, Kazechi."

~The whole area was thrown into a mass of chattering and arguing, no one could hear each other as everyone struggled to be heard over the next person. Just the thought of someone else being the killer besides their chosen nightmare, Itachi Uchiha, it served only to frighten and confused the weaker minded.

~For once since the ordeal had begun, Mitokado actually appeared shaken. For someone to know even a smidgen of information about what truly happened on the night of the massacre was incredible to say the least, but it seemed like Sakura knew more then she was letting on.

~"Madara and Kazechi murdered the family so they could have Itachi, he wouldn't have left his family otherwise. And you!" She screamed, pointing angrily in the elder's direction, "you three covered up the signature the Wind God left behind. He wanted to be heard, but you wanted to silence him! You've been covering for the massacre's true killers for over a decade! Not anymore." Sakura was hissing through clenched teeth, her eyes wildly shifting between one man to another, hoping to cause one of them to break.

~Koharu seemed visibly shaken, glancing towards her comrades with a trembling lip, fear dancing within her squinted eyes. She had no idea what to do or to say now.

~"Prove it, Sakura." Everyone turned to peek at the voice and emerald green irises fell in step with a pair obsidian pools.

~"Sasuke," she whispered, knowing he would be among the ones who would likely doubt, but something about the softness in his gaze told her he was at least listening. Her eyes turned back to the crowd, looking for the man she knew would help her.

~"Master Kodai, please. I need your wisdom and knowledge," she was grateful when the man who had been previously hiding from the sight of the elders rose to his feet and lowered his hood. He drew forward, helped only barely by the pink eyed Mizukage and brown tufted Utakata, their forms causing the color to drain from the elder's faces.

~"I won't allow these enemies of Konoha to speak!" Danzo ordered, raising his fist to the air and motioning for his guards to do something about it. Three black clad Shinobis leapt to attention and came to restrain the ancient looking male, but his guards put up a valiant fight, battling back the Leaf nins with practiced ease until the fidgeting Kodai grew tired of the tussle.

~"_Stop!_" He roared, raising his staff over his head and slamming the flattened bottom against the ground. A flash of rainbow streaked from the end as a spray of water filled the air in beautiful, controlled arcs that Kodai easily formed to his will. The liquid wrapped around its designated targets, mainly the elders and the fighting Shinobi, spreading behind the thousands of stone benches surrounding them with Leaf Village civilians and in a quick hand motion, Kodai froze everything, throwing the whole of Konoha into a subdued calm.

~Ice walls encased the city from top to bottom, ribbons of beautiful, frozen glass twinkled in the prism light that floated down through a small hole in the ceiling and cast an array of different colors splashing across the walls of his frozen creation.

~"It's time I got to speak," Kodai stepped forward once again, joined by his apprentice and new found friend as they dropped to the ground, leaving behind their fighting partners.

~"I am older than your oldest elder, more ancient than your most antique book. I came before your memorial stone, as well as the men and woman etched upon it," he inhaled deeply and rested his hand on the tip of his walking stick, leaning his chin on his hands and tiredly looking about. Sakura hadn't noticed it before, but his face seemed jaundiced and exhausted, the events of the last month here had likely drained him of his energy and she hoped the man would be alright.

~"I am the seal of the one and only goddess, Ganimaru. An ancient being that aided in the creation of the world, the land, and the people who inhabit it. She, along with her three brothers are Yin and Yang, the Beginning and the End. They are balance and karma…" The lulling lilt in the man's voice drifted those who listened off into a another time, transporting them into a world completely different than the one they knew, helped along by the mesmerizing images that kaleidoscoped across the ice face surrounding them. The ancient was showing the people of Konoha the images he knew of the past, all the good and even the bad. It was beautiful.

~When the images ended and Kodai's magic faded, everyone's gaze focused back on Sakura as she stepped forward to speak, her hand leaving Itachi's bent head behind, feeling his sigh heavily. She had been his rock while he collected his run away thoughts and scattered emotions, for once in his life, tasting just how close freedom was.

~Sakura reached into the satchel at her hip and pulled out a thick, leather bound book, inside were the case files long ago hidden and forgotten in a desk drawer of a certain elder whom thought the past would stay buried. She hurled it at Danzo's feet and let the images of the massacre spill out, in every photo of the dead and gone was an image carved into the flesh of every dead. The image of the gods. The very one Kodai had only played for the Hidden Village's people moments before, and from the book shifted a single piece of paper, on the old parchment a few words were scrawled,

* * *

_Destroy the evidence. Blame the Uchiha boy. Kill any survivors._

_By orders of:_

_Shimura Danzo  
Homura Mitokado  
Koharu Utatane_

* * *

~Sakura spoke the orders clearly, repeating the scrawlings word for word as they burned holes through her mind. She couldn't believe anyone in such high standings in this village could do something so evil, so deceiving, so utterly, inexplicably, horribly… wrong.

~She looked up at Koharu finally, "but you," she started. "You're the reason Sasuke's still here. Without you, Danzo would have murdered him just he killed the only _**other**_ survivor of the massacre." Tears finally bubbled up from the depths of Sakura's soul and she fell to her knees, unable to cope with the barrage of feelings that overtook her.

~Sasuke's eye drew wide as the realizations of so many things were clashing into him. If he wasn't able to blame his brother for the deaths of his family, he didn't know who he was to blame, who to focus his writhing anger on, everything he had known had been violently yanked from him just as it had been that fateful night everything in his life had fallen apart.

~"You killed Mikoto," Sakura's flaming irises had fallen on Shimura Danzo with a level of lethal fury the man had never seen before, and he knew his breaths were numbered.

~The youngest Uchiha froze, his heart coming to a stop in his chest. His mother. His wonderful, adoring, sweet, harmless, pretty, amazing, loving mother, had survived, only to be killed by Danzo in an attempt to cover up a secret of ancients the elders didn't want to be uncovered.

~Sasuke felt his hand moving to the hilt of his sword, but realized a moment too late that it was gone, taken by ANBU upon his arrival back here. In fact, he had no weapons to speak of, having spent the majority of his time this past week and a half in solitary confinement in a hospital room under heavy, armed guard watch. He glanced over at Naruto and eyed the teen's hip pouch carefully, wondering what gear he could momentarily _borrow_, but the Shinobi didn't make it that far. A scream of unbridled fury shattered the ice holding tightly the elders and hanging ANBU Danzo had called to his earlier aid.

~Itachi leapt to his feet, seemingly unhindered by the chakra chains and blurring across the platforms, he took after the one armed man with a vengeance, his Mangekyo spinning wildly as he reached out with death in his eyes for Danzo's throat.

~"You killed my mother!" He screamed, wrapping his fingers around Shimura's neck and throttling the man, listening to his wet gagging as his wind pipe was slowly crushed.

~Everything was thrown into chaos, people were shrieking and crying, running rampant in fear and alarm as everything became one giant cease pool of shrieking banshees and unteachable sheep.

~Kodai released the ice from around them and it all came crashing down in a freezing tempest of ice water that converged on the populace in the form of crystal rain, drowning out all the emotions and feelings in a flurry drizzle that soaked everyone to the bone.

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~Some time later, Tsunade was toweling off in her office with the room nearly packed to the gills with people she needed to speak to, and for once in her life she seriously debated getting a bigger office if she was house so many people at all once.

~"I don't know what that… that… spectacle was out there, but I don't like it," she yelled furiously, stopping mid swipe on her hair to glare at Sakura. "I wish you could have informed me first of your plan, all I knew was you and Kakashi were in cahoots and abandoned your hospital room. Thanks to Neji, I have gone deaf in one ear, and Naruto has talked off my other."

~"I couldn't let them kill Itachi."

~"You still could have informed me," the Hokage growled, "you had three hours of searching through Elder Danzo's personal things and not once did you try to contact me to at least give me warning."

~"You would have tried to stop me."

~"I would have tried to talk you out of it, but I would never have stopped you. You know I trust your sense of right and wrong and your judgment more than anyone else-" the woman waved off Shizune before she spoke to defend her position in the Hokage's eyes, "-second only to you, Shishi."

~"It would have wasted time, I almost didn't make it as it stood."

~"Which brings me to my other problem, you could've have been hurt or worse… forced to live your life with only one arm, making it harder for you to help me in the hospital. What were you thinking? You could have killed your fetuses. It was reckless, stupid, asinine, not thought through…" Every insult forcing Sakura to squint almost painfully as she took the berating in front of more than twenty other listening ninjas, "… and I applaud you."

~The medical nin looked up in shock, she had actually been praised for being reckless, not intentionally and likely in a way that threatened if she ever did something like this again, she would be permanently benched from ever being a Kunoichi again.

~Tsunade handed off her damp towel to Shizune and leaned forward, hands laced together and chin on the tops, "I've never seen the elders fall so hard. I'm glad my apprentice was the one who did it, makes me feel like a great teacher to have witnessed it." She shook her head of the sappy things and looked about the room, from one face to another, at last coming to rest on the Uchiha brothers.

~Itachi sat in a lone chair as close to Sakura as he could manage without seeming inappropriate, having nothing else to hold onto except her. For too long he'd held onto the emotionless guise of a man on the run for a horrendous crime and now he was stripped bare, laying prostrate and naked for the whole world to see. He felt like a child again and it completely unnerved him.

~In a corner, hiding away from the world, Sasuke stood with his arms across his chest, taking on an indifferent pose. He too was feeling the effects of the day's details trying to sink in, but he was failing miserably at trying to understand it all. He hated for so long a person who didn't deserve it and now without that hate he had begun to feel hallow and empty, there wasn't anything left for him it seemed, nothing but this emptiness and no clear view of where to go from here.

~"For now, I deem you two are free to walk Konoha, though I suggest you try not to cause a ruckus with everyone for my own sanity." She took a long sip of a caffeinated beverage Shizune had set down for her only moments earlier, its warming effect doing away with the chill in her body quite nicely. "Now. What are we to now?"

~"We need to prepare for war…" Sakura's voice hushed everyone and the air in the room tensed. She has said something earlier about it and it wasn't until now that everyone had begun to think about it on a more serious note. "The Akatsuki want all the Jinchurikis to power an army unlike anything we've ever seen before. If they do that, if they get even one of the tailed beast's power, we will all die. Every hidden village, every Shinobi, every Kunoichi, every man, woman, and child will perish under the destruction this army will bring."

~"How do we stop it?" Tsunade murmured, her thoughts were racing.

~"We need to find all the Jinchurikis and find the remaining ancient gods to battle Kazechi."

~Silence engulfed the room, the only sounds that could be heard were the occasional breath here and there and the churning gears in the Hokage's head.

~Finally, she came to a conclusion and looked up from her desk with an eerie smile that bespoke of things to come, "well. Looks like we're going to have to make friends with some enemies. Someone call Gaara, we're going to need his Sand Coffin…"

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Author's Note: Hope you all enjoyed that chapter! Sorry it is also VERY VERY VERY rough, I haven't had time to correct the 2 newest chapters, but I will do very soon. Thank you! Please Review!

Lady A.R.R.O.


	26. Eliminating Loose Ends

**Author's Note** – **(UPDATED - 5-13-2011)**

~I am not trying to rush this fiction to its end, though I have had enough whining on my other fictions to try and get this one out of the way, though I have found some inspiration to finish this… Thank god! It's hilarious how an author can have all the thoughts and storyline and plots and everything needed to complete a story/book, but sit there glaring at the computer screen with nothing floating to their fingertips. It drives me bananas!

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**Disclaimer**: Lest I be sued. I do not own Naruto and never will…. Well, when I become hella rich and famous I will own this lmfao, until then I am left to dream.

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_**Chapter 26**_  
_**Eliminating Loose Ends**_

_"Common danger unites even the bitterest of enemies."_

_~Aristotle_

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~"From what I can tell," Tsunade began, "the twins are doing fine, even with the Hell you continue to put them through." She pulled her hands back, the light tan colored chakra receding as the woman ran them through her unkempt hair, having forgone the ponytail that morning when it had begun to annoy her. There were heavy bags beneath her eyes and it was apparent to everyone that looked, that the Hokage wasn't sleeping properly if at all.

~Sakura looked to the floor in dejected silence, she knew that her actions since their conception were not exactly in the best interests of her sons, and things would only get worse from here. With a war coming in fast and in-tell whizzing around about strange things happening in the smaller, less known villages of the Fire Country, it had Tsunade and most if her medical staff on edge. The only sleep the blonde woman seemed to be getting of late was the small naps she stole on her desk, which she was constantly being interrupted from.

~"I'll try to rest and relax, but you know how much needs to be done and you need some rest too, sensei."

~A short chuckle escaped Tsunade's lips and she puffed up her chest, setting down her stethoscope on the sterilized, metal tray at her side, "I'll rest when I'm dead."

~Sakura tried to share in the woman's joke, managing to crack a fake smile, but something ominous about those words had struck a nasty chord within her mind. With war in the workings and the very real knowledge that with war came death, and with death came the loss of loved ones, she felt it an inappropriate jest, especially when Ganimaru wouldn't allow Sakura to see anymore of the future. The goddess' reasoning behind it, was the future was always _foggy_, meaning that it could have been shadows of things that might happen rather than things that were certain and the ancient being didn't want to stress her container needelessly.

~The pinkette climbed off the operating table, cracking her lower spine when it cramped. Under normal circumstances Tsunade would have performed the routine checkup in her office or in the prenatal ward, but since much of the hospital was taken up with civilians needing places to sleep after Naruto and the Kyuubi destroyed many of the Konoha housing, the only places left to work in were the E.R., the O.R., and a few of the clinical rooms for hospital duties. It did not bother the Kunoichi much, her discomfort was a small price to pay if it allowed the village to stay together, they needed to at a time like this, since there had been many talks of the vendors and civilians leaving the village for other places less stressful and less Jinchuriki populated, to live. It didn't bode well for Konoha if half its citizens and comerce suddenly left, especially with a battle to make ready for.

~"I should to go finish the summoning scrolls," Tsunade mused a few quiet seconds later. She had sent out emergency summons to Kazakage Gaara, Tsuchikage Onoki, and Raikage Ae*, each requesting the Kage's presence to Five Kage Summit. It was supposed to be where they would make decisions that would encompass all the nations as a whole, but the downside was… She had all ready sent out the scrolls once and the only Kage to reply was Gaara to claim his attendance, Yagura was all ready waiting for the _peace_ talks and his answer was unnecessary. The remaining Hidden Village heads had yet to respond, meaning the only lingering option Tsunade could make was to kidnap them, and she didn't want to have it come to that. Things between nations were all ready stressful enough.

~Sakura nodded, knowing her medical teacher was swamped with work, thanking her for her time and leaving without another word. She had her own things to debate over, aside from worrying about shishou's problems. The four days Itachi and Sasuke had been incarceration had been trying at best, neither had spoken a word to the other and for the most part she left it at that, spending her time with Naruto for training purposes, but it was only a matter of time before the two silently brooding brothers came to an exploding conclusion that ended in bloodshed.

~"Hey, Ugly," Sai fell in step beside his teammate, nose buried in a book and though it was dangerous to utter such a name around the pinkette, he knew she was in high spirits and _likely_ wouldn't take his pet name for her too seriously.

~"You know," the Kunoichi warned, "one of these days, I'm going to hit you so hard it'll teach you some manners."

~Sai shook his book at her and for a brief second the woman caught the title,_ Proper Mannerisms_. His broad, half cocked smile was almost more irritating than the book itself, but Sakura hadn't the energy to argue with him and continued heading towards the Training Grounds. She had agreed earlier that morning to meet Naruto and Kakashi to watch them train for the oncoming war, apparently Sai was invited as well or he just felt the needling want to annoy the pinkette, either way, he was following her.

~"Sai," Sakura began, sensing the Shinobi's averted attention. "What do you think about this whole thing?"

~Without looking up, the artist shrugged, "what do you mean?"

~"This war, the elders in prison, gods and goddesses we didn't know about. Everything we've been taught is wrong and I for one am not going to let the same thing happen to my kids!"

~"Oh," he said nonchalantly, "so you're going to teach your little bastards about what really happened in the beginning?"

~The pinkette froze and stared frigidly at Sai with her fiery, tempestuous forest greens. Her hands balled tightly as all the blood drained away, turning them a colorless white and they shook ever so slightly. "_They're. Not. Bastards_," she hissed through clenched teeth, glaring at the ground, her hair shielding her hurt expression from the inconsiderate annoyance she sometimes mistook for a teammate.

~"I was under the impression all children born out of wedlock were called this. Will you be marrying the traitor then?" It was almost mind numbing how senselessly hurtful Sai could sometimes be, Sakura sincerely wondered if he really did it on purpose in most cases, and played the stupid card so his social awkwardness would be brushed off and ignored without reprecussions.

~"No." She had a finalized tone as they stepped onto the training ground fields, it left no room for discussion.

~"Sakura!" Naruto yelled from across the turf, waving animatedly like the insane idiot he always had been. It was a lucky reprieve from the fake emotioned Shinobi who had shared half of his walk with her and she took the distraction when and where she could get it, tearing across the training space without much thought.

~"Looks like everyone's back together," Kakashi informed with a eye squinting smile, leading the pinkette to turn and see not only Sasuke in typical Konoha attire, but Itachi as well, both looking like they had stepped in something foul. Their nearly identical expressions caused a smile to break out on Sakura's lips, until they noticed her looking at them with a peculiar air and then they peered at each other quizzically, instantly their simpering pouts dissolved into feelingless voids.

~"I wanna take Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, pointing childishly. Some things just never seemed to change even with age.

~Sai had at last come to stand beside the group, his book put away in his side pocket pouch and a very fake smile plastered to his exceedingly pale features, "I don't think we've been formally introduced." He reached his hand out to Sasuke, expecting the Uchiha to take it. That was the proper thing to do. There was an uncomfortable silence between the original Team Seven Shinobi and the Sasuke _replacement_, but it was thankfully ended when the blonde of the group pushed his unwilling best friend towards the grinning artist.

~"Come on, Sasuke. Be nice, we all gotta be friends here if we're gonna fight a war together," Naruto watched in happy satisfaction when the youngest Uchiha son finally raised his hand haltingly and shook it the offending appendage.

~"So, you're my _replacement_?"

~..._The gaunlet had been thrown_...

~The smile never faltered as the younger ninja nodded, "and you must be the _queer_-"

~Sakura had never moved so fast in her life. She leapt on top of the tanless idiot and covered his mouth with both her hands, praying to Kami it would be enough to make the art nin shut his impossible trap, "if you value your life, Sai, I_ strongly_ advise you to not finish that sentence." When he nodded, she assumed it alright to lower her hands… she had been wrong.

~"-_androgynous _traitor that impregnated my ugly teammate and tried to kill my dickless other one."

~Everyone had chunks of ice running through their veins when Sai finished, that eerily phony, closed eyed grin hanging off his features with dripping insanity.

~Sasuke remained motionless for a long time, thinking over his opposite's words, dropping the hand like it had burned him, but if the introduction had unnerved him, he didn't show it. After a long moment of wordless indifference between the two, the Uchiha turned on heel and went to the opposite side of the battlefield, making ready to fight his first opponent.

~It only took a second for Naruto to scramble to the ready, barely making it to his defensive position before Sasuke let rip his first fire jutsu.

~"Fuck, Sasuke! You don't waste any time!" The blonde Dobe shouted, flipping backwards to avoid the first attack. His challenger was silent, probably still brooding over Sai's words.

~As quickly as the fight began, Sakura put it all out of mind and made a mad dash for Itachi while the man's little brother was preoccupied. The past few days, she had avoided the older Uchiha, hoping to allow them time to talk over any differences each other had, but seeing the way they reacted around each other, she highly doubted they had done any kind of talking.

~"Itachi?" The pinkette murmured softly, cutely cocking her head to the side as she invaded the man's personal thoughts. His eyes shifted to the side and trapped her in their brownish black haze, causing an involuntary shiver to streak up her back, the problem was it wasn't a bad shiver.

~"Are… are you okay?" She cleared her throat of the hesitation, hoping he wasn't too far in thought.

~"Fine, Haruno."

~"Would you stop calling me that?" Her eyes expressed genuine hurt at being addressed so formally, "I mean, I thought we were kind of passed that."

~"What are we passed… Sakura?" His mind was flurry of thoughts, but an all-consuming one seemed to flicker in the forefront of it all, drowning out anything else of importance and yet he tried as hard as he could to shy away from it. Her smile was real, cornering the edges of her dusty pink lips beautifully and tempting the older Uchiha to the brink of madness, yet he held on tightly to the edges of his sanity and smiled back hallowly.

~"I mean," she stopped, her eyes widening. The man in front of her was breath taking when emotion showed through, although she highly doubted his display of facial happiness was truthful, his eyes showed traces of blissful longing and eternal sadness. She wanted to take it away, almost as much as she wanted to take away Sasuke's pain years ago.

~"You _'mean'_?"

~Her cheeks couldn't help but redden, something inside her felt exposed. She was standing naked in front of the oldest Uchiha brother and no one else seemed to notice but him, it was thrillingly unnerving. "I mean, aren't we friends? Friends don't use surnames."

~"Whatever gave you the impression we were friends?" His jab cut her deeply, a bleeding wound that stole her breath away and she clutched to her heart in near physical pain. He knew it would hurt her, but she could never know how he felt. She would forever remain Sasuke's prize and her closeness only brought him agony, maybe if he remained cold to her she would keep away from him and stay rooted to his little brother. The younger brother needed her more than the older did.

~"I-I guess…" she inhaled sharply, holding back the tears and praying she didn't show weakness here and now. "Nothing," she squeaked out at last and spun away, leaving the training grounds behind before anyone could think to stop her.

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

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~Sasuke briefly took note of the medical Kunoichi's swift retreat, dodging one of Naruto's diving shadow clones, grabbing its leg and ripping it off before the jutsu poofed into a cloud of smoke. He stole a glance at Itachi and saw the ex-Akatsuki member leaning back against a tree, his eyes closed in deep thought, without further investigation he wouldn't know what made Sakura bail so quickly, though he doubted his brother would spill. Since the older man's trial, Itachi had clammed up rather tightly, rarely finding anything to say anything to Sasuke and avoiding him rather effectively. It was a maddening game of search and find for the young Uchiha that in the end he just gave up on and like his brother, ignored his presence entirely.

~Some hours later, the short raven haired Shinobi found himself standing at the entrance to the Uchiha compound. Inside, his demons raged, hissing and clawing with the surging memories he had fought for years to contain, but he knew he needed to come here. Things within these ancient, hallowed halls needed to be addressed, first and foremost was his fear, next was his wretched brother who had taken up residence here days ago over the comfort of the hospital.

~His hands reached haltingly for the gate, sliding it open and peering into the darkened beyond. The inner garden looked to be in some disarray, but it was the beginning stages of autumn and he knew not to expect much from a broken down place that likely hadn't been tended to since the night of the massacre.

~He took his first steps inside, his foot crunching on the dead grass and a sudden gust of wind tore over the outer stone wall and rushed through the landing, blowing into Sasuke's face and whipping his hair around. As quickly as the portentous breeze had come, it disappeared, leaving the Uchiha to wonder in a separate section of his mind if it had meant something. Maybe that he wasn't supposed to be here. Whether he was right or not, it didn't matter, he had cracked the seal on his fears and was letting them run rampant in hopes of eliminating them all together, now wasn't the time to let them take over.

~The overhanging willow trees had turned giant in his absence, weeping over the algae encrusted koi-pond that took on a sickly gray color in appearance and when he stood over it to look in, he could neither see the bottom, nor his own reflection. Something shuddered underneath the surface and pounced out, startling Sasuke's senses and he took a few steps back as a frog hopped out of the water to dry itself on the rocky ledge.

~Cursing himself for his momentary relapse in clear-minded thinking, Sasuke growled and moved on, glancing around at the dead and wilted garden of Gardenia bushes and sweet smelling Lilac shrubs his mother used to tend when she was alive.

~Upon remembering her smiling face, the Uchiha felt his heart clench and he lifted his hand come to his chest, grabbing a fistful of shirt and digging his nails into the skin beneath. His face scrunched into an unsightly expression and his eyes swam with unfallen tears, the overwhelming onslaught of emotions he hadn't yet shed were gripping tight to his insides and threatened to never let go. He wanted to cry for his family, his aunts and uncles, for his cousins and his father, all of whom had fallen to the blade of a sadistic, once thought dead ancestor, Madara. But one person he couldn't find tears for was his mother, her murderer lay in a cold, dank prison cell underneath the earth only a few miles away. He wanted to cry for her, _needed _to, but something within him shrieked at the unfairness of sobbing for the poor, dead woman while her murderer was still alive. It drove him insane to think that an elder might get away with this, he would rot in prison for the rest of his remaining years, but he would still get away with it. That problem in itself tore away the last vestiges of his rock hard indifference and he buckled under the weight of his own guilt.

~Sasuke slammed his fists into the ground, screaming obscenities and ripping chunks of dirt away in a dizzying fit. He wanted revenge, wanted to shred and tear apart the man who dared hurt his mother and the one who ended her life. If he couldn't blame his brother for the massacre, he wanted someone to blame for his life of solitude and anguish. It was only right to have revenge against those who wronged you horribly. An eye for an eye, that had been his life-long philosophy during his years in his self proclaimed mission for power. No one got away with hurting him or his loved ones unless they wanted a painful demise, and with the knowledge that his obsession with trying to beat and kill his brother for a crime the man didn't commit suddenly stripped from him, he had no where to put his rage and fury. Inside he felt like the same lost, lonely child that scrambled into the rainfilled streets as his overwhelming emotions tried to choke him to death, and now he was an adult without purpose or meaning. He had become useless, his emotions obsolete, everything in his life was hallow as the lack of meaning began to slowly set in.

~"Stop it, Sasuke," a voice ordered from behind, "it's unbecoming for a Uchiha to look like this."

~Swirling Sharingan eyes met Sharingan, a force of electric wills sparked between brothers as they glared each other down and fought for dominance, but it was Sasuke who rashly acted first, launching himself at the older, a battle cry tearing the compound apart. He came with no weapons, only his fists, smashing blow after blow in blurring, successive order as Itachi dodged every single one without the slightest effort.

~"_**Stop running**_!" Sasuke bellowed and kicked for his brother's face, hoping to wipe off his cold, uncaring gaze, but his foot made contact with only air and left the younger Uchiha screaming to the darkening sky.

~_"__**Why did you do this to me!"**_ He shrieked, sensing movement behind him and spinning to punch only another faded likeness of his impossibly fast sibling.

~A Shuriken whizzed past Sasuke cheek and slashed a small lined gash along the surface, blood leaked from the miniscule wound, but it served to infuriate the younger Uchiha more, sending him into a blood rage as he charged for Itachi with inhuman speed. He managed to tackle his brother from a branch above him and they both went careening for the ground, hitting hard enough to knock the wind out of them both.

~Stars danced in front of Itachi's gaze for a split second as he fought to regain his bearings, angry with himself for allowing his brother to catch him off guard, but that second was all it took for Sasuke to blindly jump on him and smash his fists into his older kin's face.

~In an instant, both of the Uchihas knew Itachi's nose was broken. There had been that disgusting _cracking_ sound, but now blood was spewing from his nostrils and splashing across Sasuke's knuckles, dampening them in red, life essence, yet the younger couldn't stop his onslaught. Everything he had once known and had become accustomed to was now stripped from him, leaving him irrevocably irreparable for the time being. What once had been comfortable was now stripped from him and the known was completely unknown. He wanted to go back to the hurt and the revenge, it was all he knew how to feel, this emptiness was too new and hurt much more than the anger or the pain.

~Tears streamed down Sasuke's face and his punches that had been aimed for his brother's face were barely light pats smacking against Itachi's chest. The younger Shinobi's strength had dwindled and he couldn't even use chakra to keep his Sharingan going, letting his pitch black irises show through.

~"I hate you," he cried, his own chest heaving as he remembered the night of the massacre and the years of loneliness brought on by his brother's deceit.

~Itachi gently grabbed his brother's wrists and held them away from his face, slowly reaching up with his free hand and tapping Sasuke's forehead with his bloody fingers, "I know you do… I... don't want... you to." His hands went limp as the sweet surrender of black unconsciousness overtook him and his eyes finally closed.

~Rain broke free of their cloud confines and descended on the earth at last, drenching Sasuke and his brother in their torrential downpour. The cold, crystal wetness washed away the blood covering Itachi's face and for the first time in more than twelve years, the youngest Uchiha _really_ saw his brother for the man he truly was.

_~"This is my brother,"_ his head whispered to him, _"he never stopped being my brother. He just… went away for awhile… to _protect_ me."_ He slowly climbed to his feet and stood over Itachi for a long while, staring down at the man's face and remembering all the times when they were younger that they would play games or train together, _"I want to go back to that time."_

~He knew they couldn't, changing the past wasn't possible. Not in this world and he sighed heavily, wiping both tears and rain water from his cheeks before bending over to pick up sibling and heading towards the only place he knew they would likely be welcome.

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~This house had once been her parent's, the one she shared with them through all the years of her childhood. Every nook and cranny was stuffed full of memories and hiding remembrances that each held a specific moment in her mind, sometimes there had been sadness, but there was always happiness to replace it. This place was dear to her. Sakura was glad Naruto's rampage hadn't left her completely without a place to live, since the fire Yagura and Sasuke had started over a month ago now, had destroyed her apartment, leaving behind only cinders and ash of her first true home away from this place.

~She rubbed her fluffy pink towel over her wet hair again, streaking her hand across her mirror. Her eyes looked red and puffy from crying, but it hadn't stopped her from getting the things done she needed, mostly grocery shopping and laundry.

~The foggy mist from her scorching hot shower dribbled slowly down the reflecting glass and somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if she would see images of Sasuke again, as she had before, but thankfully, no one showed up in the looking glass. She wrapped another towel around herself and made her way into the living room, startled by a knock on her front door.

~"Who is it?" She asked, glancing at her digital clock on the wall, reading it was nearly eleven at night.

~"Sasuke."

~The pinkette blinked confused, "what do you want?" Apart from seeing the father of her unborn children earlier today, she hadn't seen Sasuke in days, let alone spoke to him. He hadn't even had the gall to visit her while she was in the hospital, that alone made her want to tear out his guts and feed him his intestines.

~"Help."

~It took her a few long moments of battling her inner self and Ganimaru's better judgment before she unlatched the chain to her door and cracked it open. "Help with wh-?" Her eyes grew wide when she saw a bloodied Sasuke holding and equally shredded Itachi, "what the hell happened?" She threw the door back, forgetting all modesty and that she wasn't even clothed to rush the boys in and throw the door closed.

~"Set him on the kitchen table," she ordered officially and gave chase after her medical supplies sitting carelessly thrown on her bathroom floor.

~She came out just in enough time to see Itachi moaning and struggling to a sitting position, but she wasn't going to allow that, grabbing his shoulders in a flash and forcing him back down. "Dammit, Itachi Uchiha, lay down or I can't work on you. Sasuke get me a hot rag and some luke warm water, I can't see with all this blood."

~"Sakura."

~"How the hell did you end up like this? I swear to Kami and all that's holy that-"

~"Sakura."

~"If I told you once, I've told you boys a thousand times, you can't train this rough-"

~"Sakura."

~"What?" The pinkette's attention had been captured and Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he ran his finger along the fluffy towel's top edge, closest to her breasts, illiciting a shivering reaction from the woman that he relished for a split second. "Making a fashion statement? Because you're not doing either of us any good by parading around in that."

~Sakura looked down and blushed hotly, making a mad dash for her bedroom, the two Uchihas assumed, only emerging a few moments later in a tank top and low riding sweat pants. It was likely typical sleeping attire for her, Sasuke had seen it before, what he hadn't seen before was the now obvious baby bump she spent most of her time trying to cover up.

~"Now, are you two going to tell me what happened? Or do I need to deduce for myself?"

~Itachi smiled, most of the gore now off his face thanks to his younger brother's aid, Sasuke himself seemed a tad bit cleaner as well, the red essence having been wiped away from his arms and face.

~"_Playing_. I guess we played a little bit too hard."

~The Kunoichi rolled her emerald eyes, taking the bloody rag and holding it underneath Itachi's nose to assess the damage, "lie to me again, Itachi, and I'll make this hurt more than it needs to."

~There was concern in the older brother's brownish black gaze as he turned to Sasuke for support, but the younger Uchiha had found something worth staring at out the window, stripping himself of his blood encrusted, completely rain soaked shirt, and would be of no assistance while Sakura did unspeakable cruelties to to the ex-Akatsuki member.

~"This is going to hurt. Try not to cry too much," Sakura pushed her green and gold threaded chakra into her fingers and took a tight grip on Itachi's nose, watching him give her one of the most hilariously horrified expressions she had ever seen before. The whole scene would have been funnier if the Kunoichi had a humorous bone in her body when it came to her medical training, but she didn't and the resounding crack the oldest Uchiha sibling's face made as his bones were being reset was far from hysterical. Even Sasuke winced and his body stiffened for a moment.

~Fresh blood gushed from Itachi's nasal orifice, though he had surprisingly been silent through the whole ordeal, not having uttered a sound, and Sakura applauded him on his pain tolerance. She remembered having to do something similar to Kakashi some years back after a difficult mission and he almost cried when his nose was rearranged correctly, although the medic wondered if the older sensei wasn't just putting on a show for her more comforting, feminine treatment.

~The woman spread her fingers across Itachi's cheeks, thumbs on his nose, making ready the necessary power for healing the break when her patient's eyes almost bugged from their sockets and he turned away to cough into his hand. He spied blood and in a moment of unsure indecision, he tried to hide it from the Kunoichi, but she was too quick for her own good.

~"What are you hiding?" Sakura mumbled and took Itachi's wrist even as he fought to pull it away like a small child, "blood. Did you swallow some?"

~He looked up into her eyes and tried his best to lie to her, but behind her shining, uncut jades he saw the golden gaze of the goddess reflecting back his own image. There would be no way for him to lie to her without her knowing and instead mouthed the word, "_later_." He didn't want Sasuke to hear.

~That answer seemed to suffice the Kunoichi for now, but Itachi knew it wouldn't keep her curiosity for long. She held the back of his head steady and gripped to his rearranged nose, letting the gentle calm of her chakra soothe away his hurts and pains.

~When she had finished, she grabbed his chin and moved his face from one side to the other, checking over her work. "You look fine, I did a good job."

~"Thank you, Sakura," Itachi murmured, rising to his feet. "We should go."

~"You know," she started, "I know you two have been staying in the hospital, but until you can find a place more suited to your needs, you could just stay here. I have an extra bedroom and my couch is pretty comfortable."

~Sasuke shifted from one leg to another, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He knew he had to talk to the Kunoichi sooner or later, but he didn't think now was the best time for a discussion he knew might turn heated.

~"I'm fine, but I'm sure my little brother would enjoy the alone time," Itachi didn't give Sasuke a chance to argue, bowing respectfully to his doctor and blurring for the door.

~"But… Itachi-" the door slammed before she had a chance to say anything else. "Well. That was… interesting. I suppose you're going to leave now too." Her gaze turned towards the younger Uchiha who didn't appear to have moved an inch. All she could see was the naked expanse of his back, the tight, masculine muscles glistening still from water in the moonlight. He was... _beautiful._

~"Um," her face flushed hottly and she looked away in case he turned to see her looking. "I guess just lock the door before you leave," she shrugged and made her way for her bedroom.

~Sasuke pulled his attention away from the window to see Sakura's retreating form fading into the shadows of her hallway, "I don't want to leave."

~She paused to look over her shoulder, an odd look of mixed confusion and happiness crossing her porcelain features. She was always so easy to read, "there are blankets in the closet next to the bathroom if you want the couch, otherwise the bedroom is all made up-" Sasuke whirled the pinkette around to face him, half his visage covered in darkness, but what she could see were his two brightly shining onyx colored irises staring through her to her very soul. She looked away sheepishly, trying to hide the girlish heat that was rising in her face. It was frustrating how he made her feel this way, so weak and powerless against his dangerous charms.

~His callused fingers took a gentle grip on her chin and lifted her gaze up to meet his as his thumb ran across her rose pink lips. He debated leaning down to kiss her, unsure of the raging hormones playing war within him, but what he could decipher from his racing thoughts was if he waited much longer of this cat and mouse game between them, he was going to explode. He wanted her, _badly._

~"What are you doing, Sasuke?"

~He smiled sinfully, "as if you didn't know." His hands weren't gentle as they picked the medical Kunoichi up and backed her against the wall, grinding his hips against her core. He was all ready rock hard, she did this to him without even realizing it.

~"Sasuke," she pleaded, "stop, you're going to hurt me."

~The Uchiha leaned in to the pulsing vein in Sakura's neck, nipping at it lightly, his heated breath warming the little Kunoichi to her center and sending a throbbing pain pulsing directly to her feminine core.

~"I won't hurt you," he grinned seductively and in the darkness Sakura could see his fangs and glowing Sharingan eyes. He was wild and untamed, something that she wouldn't be able to ever catch a hold of, but it didn't stop her from trying.

~His lips leaned in to capture hers, biting the lower one until it bled and her tiny whimpering sounds caught in his throat only served to excite him more. He lifted her legs around his waist, pressing his hardening shaft against the teasing feminine folds he thought about night and day. A constant swirling of dire and need always burgeoning in the back of his mind even when the Kunoichi wasn't near.

~"You're not wearing panties, Sakura," he teased, lowering a hand inside her pants to grip to her supple ass while the other kept him steady against the wall as he continued to grind into her.

~She blushed crimson and turned away, hoping he didn't sense her core warming in the pit of her stomach, "I didn't think I'd need protection against snakes tonight."

~Sasuke pulled her gaze back to him, feeling his slipping restraint holding on barely by a thread. He inhaled her scent deeply, the animalistic side of him begging for release and knowing only the delicate flower he held could provide it. He was a snake chasing a delicate cherry blossom and he knew who would win in the end.

~"It would be easier for us if you took me to my room," she could feel the strain of holding this position in the small of her back and though some of the more sensible parts of her screamed to knock some good judgement into her, other pieces of her needed this, mainly the one harboring the depraved goddess.

~Ganimaru was a constant presence in Sakura's mind. Always watching, always waiting deep down, coiled like a Black Mamba ready to strike. But Sakura wondered vaguely if in some instances the damn Ancient would go to sleep or something, instead of egging the young woman on like she was critiquing a bad home-made porn.

~The Uchiha debated over her suggestion for a moment and smiled mischievously, his voice like purring velvet against the shell of her ear, "you're being so obliging, Sakura."

~She rolled her eyes and let her feet fall back to the floor, "no. I'm making it more comfortable for me. You have nothing to do with it." Her hands drifted to the hiding little ones just beneath the surface as she led the way into her bedroom, they had awoken with her racing heartbeat and now slammed themselves against their confines in an attempt to make her as uncomfortable as possible. It was a wonder Sasuke hadn't felt them as closely pressed against her as he had been.

~He watched her climb onto her mattress, turning on the comforter to face him with her steeled green eyes that sucked him into their depths. She was so facinatingly enticing it made his member throb painfully, not wasting any time in following her. It only took him a second to blur to her front, leaning down to trap her beneath the hard sinew of his naked arms and chest.

~Sakura gasped at the heat he exuded, the thin cotton material of her tank top doing nothing to protect her against his scorching flesh. Her nipples rubbed against his ribcage and hardened to dark pebbles that he reached up to touch with his fingertips.

~"They've gotten bigger," he mused, kneading and weighing them with his trained Shinobi hands. His lips encompassed one pert areola through the thin, cotton material and blew on his prize until she was fidgeting wildly under him.

~She was trapped by his large thighs, watching the swirling black tomoes of his Sharingan sucking her further under their spell. Her body twitched when he found a new pressure point, leading him to delve deeper into what made the Kunoichi tick. He wanted her inevitable surrender, would have nothing less than that, but she was annoyingly resilient and tried to pretend his nips to her neck, chest, and nipples weren't turning her hot.

~Ganimaru purred softly, the sound reverberating off the walls of her skull and moving lower and lower in her body until they reached her lower regions and lit her body on fire, glistening sweat forming on the backs of her knees and in the small crevices of her arms and hips.

~Sasuke's hand drifted from the soft mounds of flesh at her northern regions and smoothly ran a straight line for her southern areas, grinning when she gasped audibly over the new sensation taking her body over in waves. He rubbed her sensitive nerve base through the rough fabric of her sweat pants and felt her core getting wetter and wetter as the seconds ticked by.

~"S-stop!" She finally managed to cry when he brought her successfully to the edge more than once, but never quite allowed her over it.

~" _'Stop'_ what, Sakura?" He was grabbing for the hem of her pants and yanking them down, getting them off her body before she realized what was going on. Her scent filled his nose and he growled when she tried to push him away, a warning not to disturb his romp.

~"Please, Sasuke. Don't," she didn't want to like this as much as she was, needed to hold onto the last remnants of herall ready fractured pride, but he was quickly taking even those tiny shards from her.

~"I can't," he murmured against her wet sex, lifting her legs over his shoulders and pushing into her slick folds with his tongue with all the ferocity of a thirsty man in the desert who had just discovered an oasis. He grinned wide when she flinched against his constant onslaught, loving the sounds she made when he tortured the delicate bundle of womanly nerves.

~She was on the precipice of bliss, watching the white-hot, exploding stars streaming across her vision, feeling the building pressure coming so close to its ultimate fruition, when suddenly Sasuke yanked it from her as he pulled his tongue back. Her wanton sounds echoed in the back of her throat for a few seconds, waiting in tortured silence as he quickly undressed and came back to her.

~The pinkette gasped at the touch of his skin against her own, her hands grasping tightly to his shoulders and digging her nails into the muscular dermis she had come to know as hers, leaving behind little crescent moon shaped indents from her fingernails.

~Sasuke grunted at the pain and lowered his head to capture her lips again, relishing in the willingness of her body with just that little gesture. No matter how much she fought against him, when he kissed her she became putty in his hands, allowing him to do anything he wanted with her. He felt his hardened male sex brush against her wetness from her shaking, wanton movements, and it only served to agitate him more. He needed to be inside her, feeling her clench around his shaft until she rung from him his seed, but he knew he had to be gentle, had to go slow.

~She made a low keening sound when the object of her desires lifted her legs around his hips and probed her soaked entrance with a test thrust, deciphering her reaction. Without uttering a word, he knew she was ready, her body was trembling below him as if in the throes of a frigid wonderland, but she wasn't cold, in fact her body was on fire, gleaming perspiration sparkling on her skin like diamonds.

~Snaking his tongue out, Sasuke tasted her skin, the salty, wet sheen of her body drove him into a tizzy and he couldn't wait any longer. He roughly snatched up her legs from behind her knees, and drove his hips into her, clashing hard into her soft folds with enough force to leave Sakura breathless.

~"Oh Kami!" She screamed trembling, her nails digging into Sasuke's back. The cataclysmic reactions coursed through her body in volcanic waves and she felt herself falling into bed of glittering stars swiftly going supernova.

~"No," the raven headed Shinobi hissed as he slammed harder into her, "my name. Say my name!"

~A tiny bit of embarrassment streaked through her thoughts, letting herself go like this was shameful. She was a powerful Kunoichi, the likes of which had never been born before in Konoha and here she was falling prey to the animalistic needs of flesh without forethought.

~_"Stop being so self righteous, Sakura," _Ganimaru cackled, sending a rioting shockwave of warmth surging down her spine that hit her lower stomach and spread like a fiery explosion. The Kunoichi was so caught up in the intense sensation, she didn't notice her back arching, her nails drawing near bloody gashes down Sasuke's spine, or the words dripping off her lips.

~"Oh, harder, Sasuke! _Harder_!" She begged and he obliged, driving them onwards to the brink of their orgasmic chasm, finally pushing them both over the edge as shooting stars screamed across his vision.

~Her tight sheath rung him dry and he pulled away with a sensitive shudder, flopping down onto her bed next to her. Exhaustion crawled up his body in clawing gushes and he tried to lift himself onto his arms to get a better look at her. Her pink tresses fell across the bed in curly waves and her body still buzzed from the overwhelming sensations that claimed her entire being only seconds before. She was completely dazed, that much he surmised with a deadly smirk.

~Sasuke looked her over from head to toe, admiring her beautiful body with all the careful eyes of an artist appreciating his finest sculpture; body was blemish free, a soft flesh color with tinges of pink made up her delicate skin tone, while every muscle was well defined and well used. He took his right hand and touched the silky dermis, tracing patterned circles down her body and pausing over the swollen crevice that was her womb, where beneath the layers of protective skin, tissue, bone, and muscle, two sleeping bundles lie harbored under Sakura's careful protection and watchful eye. As if hearing their father's thoughts, small feet stretched below his palm and made his eyes widen. This new sensation suddenly turned his world on its axis and he bolted to a sitting position, leaning over Sakura with his searching Sharingan.

~"A-are… are they all right?" He asked, both hands splayed across the Kunoichi's belly, his eyes narrowing when she laughed.

~"They're fine, just awake," she cleared her throat to stop her mirth, he didn't like to be mocked.

~Another appendage surged forward and pushed on their confines, not quite making an outprint of a hand or a foot, but it was just enough to let Sasuke know something was there.

~"Does it hurt?" The wonder in his eyes was almost hilarious, but Sakura bit her tongue to hide the laughter. He was serious and she didn't want to ruin the moment.

~"No. It feels like," she paused to search her mind for the right word, "butterflies. Sometimes they kick hard and it'll startle me, but most of the time they're gentle and it feels like butterflies."

~He watched and felt for a few more minutes, but it seemed like his sons had gone quiet, blissfully slumbering after their parents had finished their romp. His hands fell away from her stomach and he turned away from her, getting to his feet to go in search of his clothes. He reached down to grab the black material when he heard Sakura shift on the bed beside him and a gentle hand took his, the softness in the touch made his gaze rise to meet hers, seeing her smiling gently.

~"Stay with me," she whispered, "I would like it if you did."

~Sasuke nodded and allowed the pink Kunoichi to lead him back to the bed, moving the blankets aside and crawling under the covers next to her. He had never felt this level of complete contentedness in his life, not before the massacre, and certainly not after it. His mind was a whirl of thoughts as Sakura drifted off to sleep, cradled in the crook of his arm, her face resting comfortably on his chest, hand splayed across the muscles of his stomach. He hadn't ever felt the soothing touch of a woman who actually _wanted_ to share his bed, aside from Karin, but her interests in him were different then Sakura's. They just didn't compare.

~The raven headed Shinobi laid on the bed, eyes staring at the low hanging ceiling with too many thoughts crossing his mind to allow him sleep. He almost left the comfort of Sakura's arms to retreat to a less suitable bed, finding the emotions that came along with her closeness out of place, but something caught his attention at the window and Sasuke turned to see a hazy outline of someone looking in from outside, standing motionless with their arms crossed over their chest.

~He instantly tensed, yet the fleeting apprehension drifted away from him when realized the shadow was only his older brother beckoning him to come. It took a few inching moments to pull away from the snoozing Kunoichi, hating himself when he saw her hands reach out for the warmth that was no longer there, but she was soon back into dreamland and he went to capture his clothes that lay strewn in a pile on the floor.

~When he was dressed, he left through the front door, sure to lock it before he left. He wasn't sure if he was going to return tonight and it seemed to make sense to leave appropriate protective measures to safeguard the woman who carried his sons. He turned to face his cloaked brother and gave the man a nod, stealing off into the darkness without a word. They had years of things to discuss and on Sakura's front doorstep was not the place to talk about them.

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20 Itachi Uchiha Age: 25**

* * *

~"Use your Tsukuyomi," Sasuke whispered, his brother obliging and both ANBU guards fell to the ground in two heaps. The Uchiha brother stepped over the useless sentries, knowing they wouldn't be rising until their mission was over.

~Two shadowed ninjas stole into the lower coridoors of the Konoha Correctional Facility, bypassing the sleeping inmates as they rested on their beds without the slightest idea of the things to come. Heat permeated the walls from river of fire that coursed and churned outside, making this place irritatingly stifling, but it was the perfect place to punish those who had done wrong by the Konoha Code. Many inmates who joined the ranks of the forgotten down here, more often than not, turned up dead rather than rehabilitated, and very few _ever_ escaped… for long…

~The cloaked assassins split up when they came to a fork in the prison's halls, dodging over other guards who sluggishly looked around when they felt eyes upon them.

~"Found them," Itachi breathed into the microphone by his ear and his brother heard.

~Their intended targets sat in three separate cells, Danzo opposite Utatane and beside Mitokado. The one armed elder sat up on his bed, staring at the wall without a word, while his comrades slept without worry, none of them realizing what was about to descend upon them.

~The guards outside their cells suddenly shuddered and fell to the cement ground, all four of them unconscious as two shadows appeared out of Danzo's peripheral vision. He turned to peer out at his hazy outlined enemies, eyes widening in actual terror when Itachi's face flashed in the very low light.

~"What-what are you doing?" Danzo asked, watching Itachi morph through the prison cell bars and draw inexplicably closer to the man before him.

~Sasuke unlocked the opposite cell leading to Mitokado, making quick work of poisoning the man with a paralyzing agent so he could neither scream nor fight them off, before going to do the same to the old woman.

~"I know you're there," Utatane muttered, her back towards the younger Uchiha, "are you both so stupid that you didn't think I wouldn't know you were coming for me?" She sat up to her full height and glared Sasuke down, lifting her arm in surrender to him, "hurry up and do it. I'm old. I don't have forever." The remark would have been funny had the Uchiha brothers had a sense of humor… But they didn't.

~A gurgling sound made its way to Sasuke's ears and he knew Danzo was dying, a shard of angry jealousy overtaking him for only a moment. He wanted to be the one to kill the bastard who slew their mother, who ordered the burning of their family's bodies so the elder's lies and deceit would never be detected, but he knew that wasn't the plan. Itachi was the only one who could make it appear as if they died of natural causes, and he was cleaner than his brother, able to leave no trace that the two had ever been here.

~Mitokado came next and the man was soundless as he died, being given a different kind of mercy that his comrade was denied in his final moments of existence. And Homura drifted into death without a sound, a kind of silent dignity plastered to his peaceful features.

~"How will you do it?" Koharu snidely asked, sensing the hesitation in Sasuke's rock hard resolve. "Poison, stabbing, an endless nightmare?"

~Itachi came from behind his brother and drew close to the woman's scrunched up face, his voice steady and calm despite the situation, "I'm not going to kill you."

~"You know I'll tell them what happened to the others if you don't," she threatened.

~"No, you won't. You won't even remember your own name when I'm through with you…" Itachi's churning Mangekyo took over the elder's mind and she drifted into comatose sleep that the Uchiha knew would take days for her to surface from, and by then she would be a useless mass of flesh barely able to even feed herself.

~"A fate worse than death," Sasuke muttered, looking away from the glassy eyed woman now drooling all over herself.

~"She has her life, it's all that she deserves," Itachi said knowingly and he made his way to the cell's doorway, leading the way out.

~Sasuke stared at the rising sunlight slowly peeking over the edges of the horizon, painting the sky with a rainbow of golds, purples, pinks, and reds. It had been a long time since he'd actually sat and watched dawn grace earth with his own two eyes. Under most circumstances, the Uchiha was on self-proclaimed missions, striving towards excellence in a way to defeat his elder brother, but now with that vengeance snuffed out in light of his newfound knowledge, it seemed like the younger Shinobi had all the time in the world to do things like this.

~"What do you plan to do with Sakura?" Itachi asked nonchalantly, laying on his back and staring at the clouds slowly shifting across the morning sky.

~"What do you mean?" Since their night escapade and arrival to this spot, neither had spoken a word even though they knew they had much to discuss. It had just seemed wrong to interrupt the quiet of the night with useless chatter when neither of them knew quite what to say.

~"She's pregnant."

~"I know."

~"Don't you think you should marry her?"

~Sasuke flinched, of course it was the right thing to do and he had all ready staked some claim to her in front of Naruto, Master Kodai, his own men of Taka, and the Water Mizukage Jinchuriki. Most everyone who had held any type of interest in her should have been snuffed out by now.

~He plucked a few blades of grass and threw them into the wind, knowing deep down inside he should marry her. It only made sense for him to do that, he'd taken her virginity, gotten her pregnant, and forced away any others who would have possibly tried to make her happy. She was his responsibility now whether he cared to admit it or not and if he didn't step up to take it, someone else would do it for him. That thought alone made his hackles bristle slightly, no one would take away something that was _his._

~"Do you think I'd be a good dad?"

~Itachi chuckled shortly, "I can't imagine either of us fathering children like we are, Sasuke." More silence grew between them, like an uncomfortable reminder of the mounting necessity to talk about past things.

~"But… I do know you, and the person you were growing up to be before everything happened." He turned to glance at his little brother with a wise, seldom used smile adorning his handsome features, "you are smart, strong, and able. I knew when we were kids that you were one day going to surpass me, because when you put your mind to something, you're relentless."

~"I know that when your sons are born, you're going to get scared. I'm sure everyone does. Hell, I'm scared for you now." Sasuke gave his sibling an odd look, he couldn't imagine the ex-Akatsuki member afraid of a damn thing, as of yet, the younger hadn't found anything to be afraid of. He didn't understand how his older could be scared. "But when they come, you're going to have Sakura, Kakashi, and even that stupid Naruto kid to help you and make sure you're doing what you're supposed to."

~"What about you? Are you going to be there too?"

~Itachi shook his head in disbelief, "if you want me there, I'll be there."

~They sat in burgeoning silence for a long time, watching the cracking sun change from a deep, vibrant blood red to a soft and full morning yellow. Nothing for the moment needed to be said, but something continued to nag at the back of Sasuke's mind, the continuing need to know about everything from that night weighed heavily on him. He was too young to remember all that had happened and he was sure that the pieces that did float to him every now and again weren't completely true, the expanse of years from that night until now and the over imaginative brain of the younger Uchiha had likely warped what really happened.

~"Itachi," Sasuke called and his brother made a low guttural sound that the younger took for a response. "Tell me exactly what happened that night."

~The oldest Uchiha quizzically glanced at Sasuke with a morbid expression plastered to his features, that memory wasn't one he went into often and he normally fought hard not to relive it, "are you sure?"

~"Yea."

~"We might be here awhile. Do you think Sakura will be angry?"

~"I think she'll understand."

~Itachi nodded, a slow knowing nod that gave way into a heavy sigh as the memories poured over him and tried to drown him, just like the torrential flood of rain that continued to pound into him that same night.

~"Madara came just as it began to rain, bringing with him a strange man that was so powerful I felt like I was being choked out of existence…"

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~The rosette headed woman groaned at the sunlight beamed down on her face, effectively pulling her from her wonderful dream and shoving her none too gently into the waking world. She reached across the bed for the body that should have been there, but her fingers only felt cold sheets and her eyes shot open with the sudden realization that Sasuke was gone.

~She sat up, her hair a mess and eyes filling with stinging tears as she told herself aloud what she was thinking, "I'm such an idiot."

~Ganimaru was thankfully quiet while Sakura tore herself out of bed and threw open her bathroom door in an attempt to forget just how stupid she felt, it slamed against the opposite wall and nearly shook the entire household, before she made her way to the toliet to relieve herself. The girl rummaged angrily through her dresser, throwing hapless, innocent clothing articles away in her near violent search of something suitable to wear. She hadn't yet been able to go to the mall to find new clothes and had to suffice herself to wearing unbecoming training gear she remembered using back before her Jounin exams, thankfully they gave a little leeway in the mid-drift area to allow room for her swelling belly. She could find clothes today seeing as how now she needed to get her mind off of things.

~Her hands flung her bedroom door open, hearing the satisfying slam of the doorknob screaming into the wall, banging so hard the whole doorframe shook furiously and Sakura was startled when she came face-to-face with the object of her hysterical rage.

~"I thought I heard you awake," the younger Uchiha murmured, his eyebrow raised at the increasing blush that raced across her cheeks, taking note of the splash of cute freckles that danced across her nose in her infuriated fit.

~"I-I thought that you were-"

~"Gone?" He finished for her.

~Sakura looked to the floor, cursing herself inwardly for throwing such a tantrum, "yeah."

~His dark obsidian pools watched her squirm, smiling at the prickly feeling she was likely feeling crawling up her spine as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, "I made coffee." He held up a mug and handed it to her, spinning on heel and heading for the stairs, leaving Sakura in wordless shock. She had no idea what to say and that pleased him to no end.

~The medical nin found herself sheepishly taking a seat on the far end of the dining room table, sitting as far away from the Shinobi as possible, not wanting to appear anymore childish than she had all ready displayed and succumbed herself to the wordless indifference Sasuke was known for. She thought she deserved it anyway.

~Sasuke took a few sips, looking at a very familiar scroll that the Kunoichi had seen a thousand times before. It was a mission scroll from the Hokage and she vaguely wondered how Tsunade knew Sasuke was staying with her, he had made it blaringly obvious that he was staying in the hospital.

~She cleared her throat to get his attention, but it didn't seem to work the first time around and she had to speak to force him to look at her, "Sasuke."

~He took another sip, picking up one end of the scroll to get a closer look at it, though didn't acknowledge Sakura had spoken a word.

~"Sasuke," she repeated, a little louder this time.

~"Hn."

~"What does that even mean?" She growled, more to herself than to him, "where did you get that scroll?"

~"From an ANBU."

~She clearly was waiting for more of an answer that he wasn't going to give without further probing, "when?"

~"This morning."

~Sakura's fists slammed down on the table, apparent agitation swimming around in her pretty green orbs. If Sasuke was a less emotionless man he might have told her that irritation looked good on her, but he knew he wouldn't say it and let the thought go, smiling at her annoyance.

~"Well? What's it say?"

~Sasuke set his cup down and inhaled deeply, it seemed that the scroll had a lot written down, "Sakura Haruno, you are to report to Hokage Tsunade before noon this day of September the twenty-fifth. You are to go over very sensitive material and are expected to be in ANBU medical attire when you arrive. And P.S. bring those stupid Uchihas with you."

~Silence engulfed them, leaving both parties without anything to say until finally, the Kunoichi broke.

~"_YOU READ MY SCROLL!"_ Sakura leapt up from her seat and flew at the Uchiha brat angrily, not even pausing to give him a head start before she was chasing him around her living room, a teasing smile plastered to the raven headed Shinobi's face.

~… And that's how Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, and Itachi found the two ninjas who had come to meet them before the fate destined meeting…

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Author's Note: I do distinctly remember someone asking for some more Sasu/Sasku action, there you have it with a few added plot points. Hope you're happy and hopefully next I can finally get to the War and War Discussions. Please review, I'm using them to keep this story alive x.x Lots of love everyone!

Lady A.R.R.O.


	27. The Five Kage Summit

**Author's Note:** Hope you all didn't mind the lemon last chapter or the random way it ended. It was brought to my attention, by several people in fact, that they didn't like the way Sakura seemed "_weak_" in the last chapter. I will say this, I'm sorry, I had wished for a way to input a lemon and that seemed the best way possible at the time. This chapter will be better, I pray… Read on my love-birds!

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**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto. But I do own Ganimaru, little devil bird… thing… goddess… WHORE…

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**_Chapter 27_**  
**_The Five Kage Summit_**

_"Maybe  
if I share the path I walk then a little more of your pain will vanish. I want  
you to heal, whoever you are. I don't care what pain you've brought the world, I  
just want yours to subside. No matter what, your path is yours. Dont follow  
misery or worry. Devote every moment of your life to improving your dreams. Love  
your world. Cherish the good you do. Let go of hatred. Dream of  
love."_

_~Anonymous_

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~A chilly wind kicked up from the east and Sakura tightened the front of her cloak around her body for warmth. This weather wasn't too out of the ordinary for September, but there was something different about the arctic wind that blew that morning in Konoha as Sakura Haruno made her way towards Hokage Tower, or what was left of it while it was under construction.

~The medical nin sighed heavily, almost expecting to the white swirl of her breath to circle about her head from the cold that engulfed her body and sunk into her bones, yet it wasn't quite that frigid and young pinkette continued on her lonely, short tripped journey. Everything within her was a mess of mixed emotions and churning feelings, last night had been a mistake, something inside her told her that. To allow her need to overwhelm her like that, Sakura couldn't figure out where the welling bubble of raw passion had come from to act so boldly towards a Uchiha son that had only been cruel and heartless to her.

_~"According to the Kyuubi, he gave a _tearful_ eulogy to your coffin,"_ Ganimaru snickered, a rush of mean intentions and disinterested volition raced down the nin's spine, leaving Haruno to brush it off with scoffing intensity. She ignored the goddess as best she could, finding that feat to be becoming excessively more and more difficult the more saturated in ancient magic she became. By now, months later after having her mind and body clearly taken over, not only was the goddess ingraining herself within the confines of Sakura's mind, but also in her personality. Things the ANBU med would never have done seemed to be second nature to her now days, tipping the scales when Sakura realized others were noticing the change as well.

~"I don't care what he_ says_. It's what he's done that means anything."

_~"You mean took your _precious_ virginity, raped you to his heart's content, and still has the audacity to be gentle to you when he wants to appease his inner demons?"_

~Sakura hissed out loud, her rising temper threatening to take hold and drown out the noisy bitch where she lie, but something told the pinkette nothing would come of the screaming match except worried stares and ill begotten feelings. She was talking to herself insanely. It was better to ignore the demonic water witch until further notice, maybe when tempers were cooled and the buzzing from last night's tempestuous frenzy had cooled in Sakura's blood. She didn't want to admit it to herself, let alone Ganimaru, that she had enjoyed her and Sasuke's romp, for once in a long while she had felt the sparkings of her old love for him stirring in her soul, yet something stronger, perhaps her good sense of judgment and ANBU training were fighting to snuff them out. And as much as she wanted to feel something, anything for the rouge Shinobi, her good sense was winning out in the end.

~The Hokage Tower came into view, standing tall against the Konoha skyline, impressively still standing even as Naruto's rampage some weeks ago now still hung somberly in the air like a plaguing scent. Construction had begun only recently to repair the damage done and aid in the attempt to keep the building standing. Without this structure Tsunade had thought much of Konoha would be lost to the destruction and chaos, with old places that held so many memories and commanded so much respect, the older woman wanted to preserve as much of that world as she could, and despite what some others thought, the current Hokage was doing a good job of just that.

~The pinkette swung open the newly refurbished front entrance, probably only just put in within the past few days if not hours. She ascended the spiral staircase, running her smooth topped, callused bottomed palms across the cool, marble railing and took in the sight of construction crews above and below on the different levels. Civilians and ninjas alike were working together in joyful harmony to get things done, moving beams, hammering nails, and doing the basics of what needed to be accomplished. A feeling a bereavement came across Sakura's face as she wondered if all this hard work would be for naught, her sleeping ventures into Ganimaru's future sense had given her just enough to hope for, but more than enough doubt to squelch her aspirations. Things were bleak, that much she knew, anything else was obscured.

_~"Stop worrying so much, Sakura,"_ Ganimaru said at length, as they entered the long hallway towards Tsunade's office.

~Sakura smiled to a passing office working, obviously ANBU by the stiff posture, but most likely subbing for someone who did paperwork, before she answered, "how am I supposed to _not_ worry? I'm bringing children into this world that weren't expected-"

_~"Not wanted."_

~"Don't say that," she growled, startling someone coming around a corner. Sakura was thrown a worried glance, but the pinkette didn't notice and continued on down the long hallway, adorned with tacky walls hangings thought to possibly brighten up the working atmosphere. For the most part they just seemed to annoy Sakura even more.

~"They're wanted, just not expected. I'm worried about fighting this battle while being pregnant. What if the war isn't over by the time they're born, I'll have two more bodies to worry about while I'm fighting to end this." She had lowered her voice to a barely audible whisper, but it was apparent to anyone who looked that the woman was having a conversation with herself.

~_"You know, you can always think your thoughts instead of crazily saying them out loud for all to hear. Though I will say it's entertaining to watch the expressions of your fellow mortals think you've gone mad."_

~"You scramble my thoughts. I can't think when I say them in my head, you know that."

~Ganimaru clucked with indifference, of course she knew that. She was the one who scrambled Sakura's thoughts in the first place, it made it easier to manipulate the young woman, and on a brighter note for the goddess, it was uproariously hilarious to watch Sakura blunder through thought conversations with her.

_~"I won't let anything happen to the unborn bastards,"_ the water wench purred out finally, _"I happen to be growing attached to the faceless creatures growing inside your womb, I could be their second mother even."_

~"Be careful, Ganimaru, more talk like that and you'll almost appear human."

~The goddess snorted indifferently and rummaged around in Sakura's mind for a few short seconds before seeming to find the object of her search and became blissfully silent, curling herself around the Kunoichi's brain like a fuzzy blanket before a bit of contented serenity forced Haruno to give up any want to argue. Not that she enjoyed the battle of mind numbing ferocity the goddess struggled to put her mind through, but sometimes she felt it necessary to argue a point when the pinkette felt she was right.

~Raising a hand to Tsunade's door she nearly knocked when the wooden blockade was suddenly thrown back and Shizune stormed passed without a word, but it was blaringly evident the woman was brooding and angry. She stomped her way to her office next door and slammed shut her own barrier with a loud bang, shaking the whole hallway and forcing some curious onlookers to pause for a split second while Sakura stood stupidly, arm still outstretched with nearly palpable confusion lining her countenance.

~"Come in, Haruno," Tsunade sighed heavily, "and close the door behind you."

~The Kunoichi obliged immediately, glad to be out of the searching gazes of those standing in the hall and heard the distinctive click of the tumbler when it set into place. She turned back to her leader and nodded politely to acknowledge the Hokage's superior standing before walking to the seat in front of the woman's desk.

~"I have something I want to ask you, Sakura. And it's _not _to leave this damn room, am I understood?" Tsunade began, her blond hair in a messy ponytail. The unusual, sloppily put-together appearance of her Hokage somehow made thepink-haired, head medical nin wary.

~"Of course, sensei. Everything you say is in the strictest of confidence-"

~"The elders are dead," the woman interrupted not wanting to dally any longer and it forced a surprised gasp to escape Sakura's lips.

~"All of them?" Sakura breathed out. She almost got to her feet, except Tsunade's strange expression forced her to remain still.

~"Yes. Danzo, Mitokado, and Utatane. All dead. We found them this morning when the Shinobi watching their cells did morning count."

~"How?"

~A low knock was heard rapping on the door and Tsunade growled at the interruption, but allowed the persons behind it to enter. There was a flash of long, white, sagey locks followed closely behind by the masked face of Team Seven's ex-Jounin.

~"Good, you're both here," Tsunade whispered, her eyes never leaving Sakura's. Something swam around behind her amber irises that the pinkette couldn't decipher, but she didn't like it, that much she knew.

~_"It's distrust,"_ Ganimaru snarled unkindly, feeling the growing waves of uncomfortable suspicion almost like a tangible thing within the small office space.

~"You think I had something to do with it, don't you, Shishou?" Sakura's face contorted to anger faster than the Hokage had ever seen before and without knowing how to diffuse the ANBU Kunoichi, the scene before the three older ninjas grew out of swiftly control.

~"How could you think that of me?" Sakura screamed and leapt to her feet, the sudden rage she felt coursed through her body in molten waves of golden fury, only enhanced by the presence of the infuriated goddess.

~"Sakura, I haven't said anything yet-" her ex-pupil suddenly threw her chair against the wall and everyone watched in muted fascination as the wood disintegrated. The younger woman was breathing heavily, unsure why she suddenly felt betrayed and alone.

~"It's in your face," the medical nin rumbled, the sound like a feral snarl from the center of her chest. "I can see the way you're looking at me, Hokoage. You think I had something to do with this."

~"We have to explore all the options. There were no wounds on the bodies, except for Utatane. It's apparent she killed herself," Tsunade slowly reached into her desk drawer and pulled out the pictures and case files, opening the manila folder to reveal the bodies of the dead elders. Two were perfectly preserved, Mitokado appeared serene even in his death, while Danzo had a look of unbridled terror locked in his only visible eye. He had likely died frozen in a state of constant, swirling fear.

~Sakura had to draw closer to the table to see the way the final elder had died, her face scrunching into disgust when she saw the copious amounts of blood and gore marring the old woman's body. Just from the photographs it was easy to surmise Utatane had smashed her head against the wall until she finally stopped all brain function. Her skull, face, and head were in tatters, brain matter draining away from the open portions of her cranium while her nose and most of the facial bones and muscles hung disgustingly off her visage. She was a mess in death, very unlike the old crow.

~"Oh, Kami," the pinkette murmured, unable to come any closer to the pictures lest the gore plastered across the crime scenes suddenly come to life to drench her. She wasn't new to blood and most certainly not wounds like the female elder's, she had seen worse on missions and in the emergency room, but this wreaked of something evil, something awfully sinister, and the very thought of touching the photographs made her want to retch.

~Kakashi noticed the girl's reaction and came forward, pushing the pictures back into Tsunade's lap, "she didn't do it, Hokage. This is Sakura we're talking about, stop torturing her."

~It took a moment for Tsunade to sigh and put away the crime scene photos, but she did and when they were finally locked away, she looked up to glare hard into the girl's forest green eyes, "I know you didn't do this. I had to ask, Sakura, I'm sorry."

~The pinkette nodded as her fury died down inside her, having cooled from the freezing shot of terror that thumped wildly in chest only seconds ago, "how was it done?"

~"That's just it, we have no idea. None of the bodies show signs of stress. No detectable posion. Nothing. It's like they all just… died of natural causes or self infliction. Elder Utatane has never shown any reason to do what she did, it's just as suspicious as the other two."

~"Who do you think could have done this?" Sakura asked quietly, moving to the window as her arms crossed over her chest. Inside her, she felt the raging wigglings of two twin boys doing their daily form of somersaulting flips and exercises, made only worse by her pounding heart. Her hand unconsciously shifted to her burgeoning belly to calm their movements, though it was to no avail, they continued their rough romping and hardly cared how it nauseated their mother.

~"The only people in this village who knew of their treason that could have possibly pulled off this kind of murder is… you, myself, Kakashi, and…"

_~"Itachi_," Sakura and Tsunade said simultaneously.

~"Yes, and because Kakashi and myself have alibis for our whereabouts around the time the elders are thought to have died. It left me no choice but to ask you." She smiled sorrowfully, her eyes softening a bit, "but to tell you the truth, I never actually thought you were a part of this, duty simply dictated I ask."

~"I was… with Sasuke last night," Sakura answered slowly, sensing two of the three ninjas tensing tightly. "We were together all night. After Sasuke brought Itachi over to be healed," she felt Tsunade flinch with curiosity. "They were fighting, I don't know where or why. All I know is that they came to my house to get fixed up, Itachi's nose was broken and Sasuke suffered just minor wounds to his hands."

~From the corner of Sakura's eye, she could see Kakashi smile beneath his mask, his eye squinting just slightly. It was about time they _bonded_, was about the jist of his thoughts.

~"Were they with you all night-" Another knock tore away the tail end of Tsunade's question and she angrily threw her hands in the air, a clear sign of defeat from the whole situation. She was furious about the constant interruptions, if it wasn't people coming in to _fix_ her office, it was people disturbing her while she was trying to get to the bottom of things in her own damn village.

~"Who is it?" The Hokage yelled, and from behind the door the low, masculine voice of a Uchiha was distinctly heard.

~"Oh," the blonde woman said and sighed, "come in, Itachi. Have you brought your damn brother with you?"

~"Yes," the door opened to reveal a perfectly fine formed Itachi, followed in closely by an equally fine looking Sasuke. Both brothers had composed looks on their faces, not a hair out of place. If Sakura didn't know any better, they looked as if they hadn't done a bad thing in their lives, and everyone in that room knew better.

~When the door clicked closed behind them, Tsunade began her speech again, tuning Sakura out as the girl watched silently from her vantage point at the window. The pinkette stared hard at Itachi, her eyes moving from one Uchiha brother to the next and then back. They couldn't have done this, even with all the anger and hatred they most likely had towards the elders, they wouldn't have gone so far as to murder them for revenge… _right_?

~_"You're searching for a false truth. You know the answer to your questions, Kunoichi,"_ Ganimaru, who had remained unusually silent through this whole ordeal, even during Sakura's ragings, suddenly piped up cryptically like some riddling sphinx guarding the passageway to reality.

~_"They did it… didn't they?"_

_~"Who's to say? Will you protect them, though? That's the question."_

~"…so were they, Sakura?" Tsunade's voice cut through Ganimaru's and forced the medical nin to turn and look at her Shishou confused.

~"I'm sorry, Hokage. I was speaking to the goddess. What did you ask?"

~"Were they both with you all night? Can you collaborate their stories?" All eyes looked upon the pregnant ninja, and a shot of hardened, steely fear streamed through Sakura's veins, chilling her to her core. If she told the truth and said Itachi wasn't with her and Sasuke, the man could be sentenced to death if they found out he did it, but if she lied, they could have his help in this war. She battled her inner demons of what was right and what was wrong, struggling to find an answer to her mind-numbing turmoil.

~_"The elders deserved what they got,"_ Ganimaru said gently and suddenly a sense of clarity came over Sakura unlike anything she'd ever felt before. The elders _did_ deserve what they got, and the Uchihas, whether they had done it or not, deserved the right to avenge their family. Very few had to go through the amount of anguish the two of them went through, and even less were allowed to wreak revenge upon the demons of their pasts. If she were in their position, she would want justice, a type of justice that a lifetime in prison wouldn't have allowed.

~"Yes, sensei. Itachi slept on my couch while Sasuke and I spent the entire night… together. Neither of them left."

~"Are you sure, Sakura Haruno?" Tsunade very rarely ever used her surname in accompaniment to her first, this was a grave situation and called for only the truth.

~_"I'll carry this to my grave."_

~"Yes, Hokage."

~Tsunade watched for the slightest movement, anything that would tell her that the ninjas before her were lying, something rang false for her, but she couldn't prove it and if Sakura said they were with her, than she would trust her most valued, and trustworthy pupil.

~"All right. Please return at noon, all of you. I have a mission for you three, along with a selective few others and I will have your cooperation. That's all." She waved the men and female away, spinning in her seat until she faced the wall. Everyone filed out quietly, even Kakashi took up the rear, leaving behind Jiraiya and Tsunade as the door shut behind the ninjas.

~"What are you thinking, Tsunade?" The white sage asked grimly, haltingly raising a hand to touch the woman's shoulder to offer some form of comfort.

~"That my most valued medical ANBU Kunoichi just lied to me to protect those stupid Uchihas." She ground her teeth together, "and I can't prove it."

~"Do you really want to?" Jiraiya asked, rubbing his old teammate's neck lovingly. It had been so long since he had been able to touch her like this and it felt like they were falling apart, their strained relationship had taken a hard blow since Sakura's initial disappearance that at times Jiraiya still wondered if the denying Hokage still loved him.

~Tsunade relaxed into her companion's fingers, sighing heavily as her thoughts struggled to drown her, "no. If they did it, I don't want to know about it. If Sakura's covering I'd just as soon find some way to try to cover it up for her. She's like my daughter, Jiraiya, a mother protects her young."

~"I know," he leaned in close to his lover's face and pressed his forehead against her right temple, hoping to convey as much strength to her as was possible. She was crumbling, this Hokage position was wreaking havoc on her mind, her soul, and her body and in the past few years things had taken a rather hard turn towards the worst.

~"If I had never taken this damn job, do you think we could have found happiness?" Tsunade's question startled the old sage and he wasn't quite sure how to answer.

~He wrapped his strong arms around her and nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling deep the gentle scent of jasmine and even lighter scent of plum sake. There was a strange power in this smell, it gave him an odd feeling of hope for things in the future and calmed him to his center. It was distinctly Tsunade and he adored it.

~"I think if you had never taken this job, those Shinobi and Kunoichi out there would have suffered for it. You did the right thing and no matter what happens, I will always be here for you. I will never leave you again." He felt her flinch at his words, but relax when he kissed her cheek, she was so easy to calm sometimes, while others she seemed inconsolable.

~"Thank you, Jiraiya. Without you, I'm not sure what I would do."

~"I love you too, _Princess_."

~They both smiled and Tsunade turned to glance at the man who gave her the ability to keep going even when she thought she was about to break. He had a loving smile plastered to his aged features and it brought back haunting memories of their younger years, when he had showed genuine interest in her but she was too busy falling in love with someone else to see it. Yet, he never failed in his love for her, always coming back ardently stronger every time they met back up, it just took Tsunade a lot longer a time to take notice and when she did, the fiery passion she gave the pervy sage was unlike anything she or he had ever felt before. She was definitely worth the long wait.

~The Hokage leaned her head in and laid her it on Jiraiya's horned head plate, feeling the coldness sink into her mind to cool her rising temperature, "promise me you'll never leave."

~"Woman, where do you think I'd go without you?" He laughed shortly and kissed the bridge of her nose, the moment was tender and almost out of character for them both, but here under the cover of silence where no peeping eyes could see, they could be themselves without fear of what others thought.

~"You missed," Tsunade joked, tilting her head enough so Jiraiya could reach her lips and he took his chance with fervor, his fingers tracing lines on her chin to bring her closer…

~Someone pounded on the door suddenly and the two of them sprang apart before someone saw and amidst the Hokage's cursing and banging things around in an angry temper-tantrum, the white haired toad sage just smiled happily. They had plenty of time to be intimate, maybe not now, and most likely not for a little while, but when this whole war business was over and everything was back to being normal, she could allow herself the small pleasure of being happy for once. He could show her to the small piece of land hidden away for his writing of _Itacha-Itacha, _where a cute, small cabin in the woods lay in complete serenity and lonely tranquility, awaiting the day for its master to return. He would take her there when she passed on the Hokage title, she had promised him that much after this war was over. When things were better, she would give away her position so they could be together at last… and he could finally give her the small gold and silver band he had hiding in his pocket.

~But for now he would wait. He would cherish the moments with her he was able to steal and take happiness from the fleeting seconds they offered him. This was his paradise, his forever happiness and he'd waited this long for it, a few more months weren't going to kill him.

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~She walked in morbid silence behind the two Uchihas, taking no pleasure in the horrible feeling weighing down the pit of her gut. She had lied for them. Lied to a Hokage. Lied to her sensei no less. Her sense of loyalty sat in tiny shards amidst her village pride and allegiance. The years of training to become powerful and dedicated to her work suddenly held no more transparency than water, if she didn't have Ganimaru holding her up she was sure she would crumble under the weight of her own guilt.

~When Itachi disappeared, leaving behind Sasuke, Sakura hardly seemed to notice the older Uchiha's vanishing act, keeping her green orbs trained on the ground as she made her way towards her parent's house. There was more than three hours until noon for Tsunade to give out her mission scroll along with whoever was supposed to accompany her, she hadn't even realized Sasuke fell instep beside her until he took her arm and led her down a deserted street. She was more shocked by the abnormal contact the Uchiha showed rather than where he was leading her.

~"Don't speak until we're there. Don't say anything," he hissed into the concave of her ear. His words weren't unkind or said in a way that she felt afraid, it was more of a warning than anything else and with his eyes, he pointed out the shadow of an ANBU running along the rooftop of a nearby building.

~Sasuke dragged Sakura down another alleyway, taking her through the back passages towards the Uchiha compound, brutally wrenching her arm when she attempted to pull away. She made a soft sound along the lines of a pained cry, but bottled up the ending in case the ANBU was listening in.

~As the youngest Uchiha pushed open the wall door leading inside his mother's back garden area, Sakura was surprised by the nearly overwhelming force of ninjitsu chakra power guarding the way in. She gasped out when Ganimaru clenched tightly around her gut as the sheer power tried to drown her senses. This place was not only protected from enemies who would do this place harm, but also against unwanted intruders; mainly the ANBUs standing just outside the gated veranda.

~Sasuke slammed shut the sliding door, forming his fingers into an old hand jutsu to bar the way from prying eyes and listening ears. He turned back to the young pinkette with dark jade eyes that swirled with dim thoughts and drew close to her without any forethought to personal space.

~"You lied for my brother and I. You knew Itachi wasn't there. Why?" A strange expression danced across his façade, something similar to amusement. He didn't want to admit that he'd left, something told him that wouldn't bode well against her temper.

~Sakura felt a tiny quivering within her belly and her hand jerked towards the slight movement as if to calm her twisting sons, "because I didn't want the father of my children in prison."

~"Liar, look me in the eyes and tell me," he took a menacing step towards her, sensing her apprehension and watching as she took a step back to make room between them. Her eyes darted to his and were held still by his swirling Sharingan, passion and lust were hiding there being reined in by his Shinobi control, but there were other emotions, among them something Sakura gasped at. _Misguided_ love, or what appeared to be love.

~"I would've done it," the Kunoichi finally managed to squeak out, tears cornering her eyes, "I would've killed them too if they had taken everything from me."

~The muscle in Sasuke's jaw leaped and he jumped forward, taking Sakura up in his arms and backing her into the white faded wall, nearly crushing the air from her lungs. Before she could catch her breath, he was on her, bruising her dusty rose tinted lips in a hard kiss, running his tongue along the lower as he demanded entrance, which she gave without a fight.

~Sasuke plunged his tongue into her orifice, searching out what made her tick and feeling the need to reward her for her strange loyalty to him, even if it was seemingly misplaced. He felt her crumble against him, no more will to battle his strange affections, and he didn't mind it. In fact, he invited her yielding body, needing it almost as much as he needed breath.

~With the rising necessity for oxygen burning in her lungs, Sakura tore her mouth away and gasped at precious air. Above her Sasuke chuckled haughtily, moving from her lips to the now exposed flesh of her neck, finding the pulsing vein he loved to tease so much. She shivered violently with his attention, but felt a cold shock of surprise bolt through her chest that ran her blood icy when Itachi's brownish black gaze came into view just behind his younger brother's shoulder.

~"We should take her inside, it's freezing out here," he murmured lowly.

~A wolfish grin adorned the younger Uchiha's face as he picked up the startled pinkette and bounded across the courtyard into the dimly lit house.

* * *

**Tsunade Senju Age: (Unknown, asking could get you killed)**

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~"We are the brink of war with enemies we haven't even begun to understand, in a time where peace should supreme." Tsunade stood before her entire fleet of ANBUs, standing in erect attention against a silent backdrop of Jounins, Chunins, and older aged Genins. She watched and scanned the sea of men and women quietly taking in all the information set before them, wishing to herself that there was some other way than war. Many of these faces before her wouldn't come back and that killed her.

~"I have been given the privilege of being your Hokage and now I stand before you all… begging you to defend your village as you have been trained to do. Not because I'm telling you to, not because it's what you should do, but because we are sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Because of those women, men, and children outside without a clue as to the cataclysmic battle about to affect us all." She inhaled deeply, pausing in her speech and gazing out from her pulpit at every face, from the masked ANBUs to the young and childish, frightened expressions of the younger generation genins. "Many of us will die, and I cannot bring you all home, but I promise you. I will be out there fighting alongside each and every one you, and I will stop until the breath is ripped from my lungs and my soul torn from my cold, dead fingers. We will win. We have to." Silence reigned throughout the entire room, bringing to light the dire situation at hand.

~"I have left instructions for the Genin who will remain behind to defend our great village and those Jounins who will instruct them. ANBUs will follow my orders and Jounins and Chunins who will fight are under the strict watch of Sannin Jiraiya and Captain Kakashi. Until further notice, you are all dismissed to your families until further notice. Thank you, and go with Kami." Tsunade was the first to leave, slowly climbing off the large constructed stage strictly for this purpose, followed in tow by her ANBU Captain and the Toad Sage Sannin. She paused at the door when an almost inaudible sound made its way to her ears and forced her to look.

~Sakura stood tall in front of her fellow ANBUs, her painted, feline mask pulled over to the side of her head as her face was exposed. This showed a sign of the utmost respect, casting aside her secret visage to show her sensei, her shishou, her friend, her mentor… her Hokage just how much she trusted the woman.

~"_Hai!" _She screamed, slamming her closed fist against her chest and bowing to her knees. She fumbled clumsily at first, her growing belly getting in the way, but she managed to gracefully complete the motion without too much shuffling. Beside her, another ANBU, Kiba this time followed in suit, and then Neji, and Hinata, until all the ANBUs had revealed their faces to the world in respect for their leader and bowed to their knees. The Jounins came next, Chunins, and finally Genins, everyone showing the utmost respect for a woman who had shown more strength and ability in a time of turmoil than was necessary. She was truly a great ninja.

~Tsunade gaped, moving her sweeping molten honey eyes from one end of the room to the other. In all her years, from her younger Kunoichi days, through her self-inflicted exile, clear up until she took on the broad responsibility of governing a Hidden Ninja Village, she never knew she commanded so much respect from her peers. She glanced to Kakashi when he too knelt beside her in the same pose as his fellow brothers and sisters in arms, spinning around to face Jiraiya. Her glittering irises spoke volumes in a mere millisecond, expressing more emotion than any words could ever convey.

~"Thank you," she breathed out, struggling for more but found she couldn't speak without cracking and made a swift exit before anyone saw her tears.

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~"I can't believe the gang is back together!" Naruto's rough, ragged voice cut the silence between the racing nins as they were followed in close suit by Itachi, Sai, Master Kodai, Yagura, and Utakata.

~"I can't believe we have this many Junchurikis to protect," Sasuke growled out, finding this whole situation not only annoying but downright irritating. He had wanted to continue to the Kage Summit with what remained of his Team Taka, not an old man, a pregnant woman, a silently brooding older sibling, an blonde-headed annoyance, a fake replacement, and two slip-up excuses for Jinchurikis. If this didn't scream for following Akatsukis to attack, he wasn't sure what would.

~The team had set out almost immediately after Tsunade's speech, waiting for their turn to exit the front gate as other teams made up of the old Rookie Nine, ANBUs, other Jounins, and of course Chunins all took their turn to leave. Leaving at once would have made a grand disturbance of things and Tsunade, as loud as she was, wasn't about to cause anymore of a ruckus then was necessary. People were mourning the loss of teachers, friends, husbands, children, wives, and the like, praying to whatever gods were listening for the safe return of loved ones.

~"Did you say goodbye to anyone, Sakura?" Naruto asked suddenly, drawing the pinkette from her racing thoughts. She had a glazed over look glistening in her green optical orbs, hidden by her ANBU mask and black outfit. Though she knew the likely hood of needing a disguise was low, it felt good to wear her old costume again, with it came the courage and semblance of organized thoughts that comforted her before this whole mess began.

~"I have no one to say goodbye to, Naruto," she said deadly, no amount of emotion lining her voice, "everyone I would say it to is either with me or I will see before the end of tomorrow."

~"What about the others in the rookie nine?"

~"I am neither close, nor particularly fond of anyone besides you assholes," behind her mask she smiled, glad to have the blanketed visage of cold indifference to hid behind. Inwardly she was screaming, hoping to see everyone safe and soundly returned to how it should be when this was all over.

~"What about Lee and Ino, or Hinata even?" Naruto was grasping at straws now, struggling to find things to talk about, it was his way. In times of stress and constant pressure, the damn Dobe took on the irritating tendency to turn into a chattering bird. His never ending onslaught of mindless prattle seemed to rant on into eternity, even if no one answered him back and by nightfall when the team of eight nins and an Ancient made camp Naruto had managed to talk himself dry… finally.

~"I thought I was going to have to kill him," Utakata joked, fingering his newly bought Shinobi garb, having forgone his long blue and orange kimono in light of the current mission situation. He seemed comfortable enough in it, even if he debated the legality of shoving a lower ranking Shinobi into the outfit of a Jounin and giving him weapons he had yet to figure out how to use. Aside from the Shurikens and a few Senbon needles he knew at least how to throw, for the most part he was relying heavily on his powers as a Jinchuriki and his Bubble Flute, hoping that with a lot of luck he would make it to a ripe old age.

~"Some of us also thought the same," Yagura piped up, munching away on a stuffed, meat-bun he had managed to bring along with him despite Sakura's mothering on what were appropriate ninja necessities and what weren't. He was glad enough though to have the young woman even speaking to him since he was the cause of her near death experience only a short while ago and apart from Sasuke's moody silence towards him, it seemed the whole ordeal was forgiven and forgotten.

~Naruto was the first one to fall asleep, grinning like some well-to-do idiot as dreams overtook him and most everyone rolled their eyes when he twitched like a rabid animal amidst his sleepy coverings. In short time though, most followed behind the blonde Dobe, taking to their sleeping rolls while Sakura and Sasuke took the first watch. At first, Itachi tried to argue the point, feeling a burning need to keep the two separated as the green monster of jealousy reared her ugly head inside his mind, but his brother easily fought the older off and it left little room for a squabble.

~The night's sounds pierced the quiet that surrounded the camp as late-blooming crickets chirped to their heart's content and frogs that were beginning their autumn tussle attempted their late night melody.

~Sakura felt Sasuke take up his position beside her, soundlessly easing himself against the large tree trunk that obscured her vision of him. He hadn't spoken a word to her since they had left for Tsunade's speech earlier that day, having only briefly spoken upon the morning occurrences when she was dragged deeper into the Uchiha Compound.

~"How are the twins doing?" He asked nonchalantly, waiting expectantly for an answer.

~"Fine. Don't talk, keep watch."

~"Hn," came Sasuke's reply, which only served to irritate the Kunoichi more. She had a severe dislike of his random sound making in exchange for words when he could have just remained silent in the first place.

~A few hushed moments crawled on by with one saying a word, and surprisingly enough it was the younger Uchiha to break the burgeoning quiet between the two ninjas, "I've been meaning to discuss a few things with you."

~Sakura sighed loudly, wishing to not be dragged into a conversation she wasn't interested in having right at the moment, especially not while others with listening ears could possibly hear them, but she knew better then to deny Sasuke a conversation when it was him drawing it out, "what is it?"

~"What are you going to name my sons when they're born?"

~"I hadn't really put a whole lot of thought into it, we're kind of in the beginning stages of a war." She tightened her fingers on the hilt of her poisoned blade, relishing in the heavy metal feel of it in the palm of her hand. It had been a long time since she had touched its handle and it felt good to have it back, like the return of an old friend.

~The damn goddess for whatever reason was no help in these situations and it was best to leave the water wretch alone instead of asking for some kind of stringed guidance, knowing every answer the ancient creature gave was weighted down with the promise of payment later down the road. At least with her tonto blade, it didn't talk back to her, offered her protection when time called for it, and didn't expect to be given payment in the form of her stripped hide later when she really needed the flesh. Honestly though, nothing really prepared her for anything to do with Sasuke; not her blade, not Ganimaru, not Naruto, not anyone or anything. He was an enigma to her that robbed her of any intelligent thought process she knew she possessed. She was a damn ANBU, trained to kill mortals in a variety of ways that left no trace, and yet when she was confronted with the one demon of her past she hadn't been able to fully throw away, she became as useless and as spineless as a jellyfish. It aggravated her to no end, wrenching her mind into a state of disarray as she fought and struggled fruitlessly to find some means to an end with him.

~He was emotionless, void of feeling for anyone but himself in most cases, selfish, spiteful, took what he wanted, forced people to bend to his will… and yet, no matter what way she looked at it and demanded herself to ignore it, she felt her mind slipping into the old Sakura. She didn't hurt herself of late like she had in more recent years, having used the pangs of her discomfort as an outlet to forget how she felt for one black haired, over achieving, vengeful Shinobi that had _abandoned_ her and her blonde teammate.

~For all intensive purposes, she should hate him. She had every right to do just that, but she couldn't bring herself to feel that amount of loathing for the frustrating man. Irritatingly enough, she wondered if he killed her torturously, would she just smile painfully and ask for another bout of anguish from him. When the goddess quaked within her as ripples of laughter shock waved her body, she knew she likely would be _that_ demented. She felt disgusted with herself. All her self-proclaimed intellect lay harbored in a chakra power-housed body where she could quite possibly be considered as close to a Sannin as was achievable, and yet she was no more useful than limp ramen noodles when the youngest Uchiha made his grand entrance. It was pathetic.

~"I don't care what you call them, I'm asking about their surnames. You'll name them Uchiha," his tone had left no room for argument and ripped her from her thoughtful reverie. There had been a long time of silence between them and she had assumed he wouldn't press the issue anymore, but she was wrong and what was worse was Sakura would see to it that she wasn't ordered around.

~Sakura laughed shortly, wanting to flick a senbon needle in the man's direction, but calming her itching fingers before it started a brawl, "I think Haruno is a better surname."

~"For a batch of bastards that aren't mine. You _will_ name them after my clan, they are my legacy."

~"Of what? Rape? Seriously, Sasuke, I am not in the mood to talk about this," she found herself pinned neatly against the rough tree bark not an instant after those words left her lips behind her cat-like ANBU covering, hissing at her own stupidity for allowing her guard to drop even for a moment to allow this Uchiha brat to get to her.

~Anger, fury, wild rage all crossed his visage, but were dropped in a moment, leaving behind his mask of defiant indifference. She wasn't lying, that's what got to him and hit him harder than any physical blow she could have dealt. He almost wished she would hit him, at least he wouldn't feel so bad about having hurt her.

~"I'm… I'm sorry."

~"What?" She asked, not quite having heard him.

~"I said, I'm sorry."

~"Do you think that apologizing suddenly for everything is going to make everything better?" She snapped rabidly, "because if that's how you think it happens, you are _sorely_ mistaken."

~"No," he growled out, tightening his hands into fists on either side of the Kunoichi's head. She was absolutely right, apologizing meant nothing, they were just words. He had to show her he meant it. In a feat of supine defenselessness he didn't know he possessed, he pulled himself away from her sat on his knees at her front. He closed his eyes and bowed low, nearly touching his forehead to the dirt, "I'm… I'm begging, Sakura. I have _never_ subjected myself to this kind of…"

~"Toture?" She offered, shocked beyond reproach at Sasuke's chosen vulnerability, and he nodded without looking up. He reached up with his hands and grabbed her extended shins, touching the long black ANBU material and struggling to convey to her the amount of self-restraint it took to offer her this kind of apology.

~"Get up," she said at length, "you look pathetic. Not very Sasuke-like. I don't forgive you, I don't know if I can, but I'm willing to think things through before I make a choice."

~"That's all I'm asking for."

~"Didn't sound like it."

~Sasuke closed his eyes and prayed for Kami's aid in not throttling this infuriating woman before his sons were born, "fine then. I'm asking you now to take into account… certain considerations." He was fighting to find the best words that wouldn't set off Sakura's infamous temper.

~"Please, give them my last name."

~"Sasuke, we all want things. It doesn't mean we're going to get it."

~"What do you want then?" He hissed, only the night before she was underneath him, screaming his name in the throes of ecstasy, and now she was colder than a dead fish. It infuriated him and sent spidering waves of curiosity blazing brightly within his mind, she wasn't like any woman he'd ever met. That alone served to make him want her, but it was the other things that allowed a kind of respectful admiration to grow in his heart for this annoying pinkette.

~"I don't know what I want," she hadn't expected the Uchiha to ask, the question catching her off guard. "What are you offering?"

~"Dammit, Sakura! I'll give you whatever you want. I want to be in my children's lives, I want them to have my last name," he blurred forward and snatched up the Kunoichi's face in his black gloved hands yanking lightly on the wavy pink curls framing her face as he ripped off her ANBU mask and threw it aside. He wanted to see her face, to take in all the flawless design that was _her_. "I want you."

~_"Remember my spell, Sakura,"_ Ganimaru offered unhelpfully. It was obvious to the pinkette that the goddess was only having some fun at her expense, leading her into an irritating spiral of conflicting emotions and jumbled feelings.

~Sakura watched as Sasuke's eyes bled to red, his rising heckles giving an untamed look as a smoldering passion burned hotly behind his twin onyx eyes.

~_"I don't care,"_ the pinkette growled inwardly, the realization that nothing really seemed to matter anymore except her sons and her own needs. Damn it all to hell if Sasuke was under some kind of blanketed infatuation, maybe for once in her entire pathetic existence she could get her way. It was selfish and she wasn't proud of her decision, but she made up her mind and wasn't about to look back.

~"I want you to marry me."

~Her words hung heavily in the air, surrounding him in their meaning and quite nearly drowning him. He hadn't expected her to be so bold, it wasn't like her to be that way when she was around him. In fact, it wasn't like her at all, not from his point of view. She was supposed to be weak and obliging in his presence. This wasn't a Sakura he was expecting.

~It was right at that moment that the ninette realized she was walking a very thin tight-rope wire, on one side she could see her old life hanging in the balance where she would cut herself to relieve the pressures of her insanely churning thoughts and she was slowly making her long trek away from it. On the other, she saw Sasuke and all his wiles, smiling devilishly and giving only empty promises and endless bounds of pain. She knew that life with him, albeit something she found herself curiously wanting to know more about, could inevitably end up being more than she could bear. Her body could end up broken and heart burned, that thought terrified her.

~Somewhere in the middle of camp, a brownish black haired Shinobi hugged himself deeper into his sleeping bag, a smile spreading across the aristocratic features as the man slowly drifted off into slumber, sufficed enough to realize Sasuke would do the Kunoichi no harm.

* * *

~Morning brought loud groans and twisted emotions. The bright blonde haired Jinchuriki didn't want to get up and went as far as to ignore Sakura's constant onslaught of poking and prodding. When that didn't gather her the expected effect, she pulled out a Kunai with an evil grin and went to jam it into his ass, but a hand grabbed her wrist just in time and she stared up at Kakashi's squinty eyed face.

~"Now, now, Sakura, you don't want him in foul mood this early in the morning," he stated evenly, not giving in even when the pinkette pouted facetiously.

~"Fine," she sighed at length and allowed her sensei to awaken the Dobe under more_ acceptable_ means.

~When everyone had gathered their things, the group of nine set off in hot pursuit of their destination, knowing they had until nightfall that night to make it to the high top mountain of Kage Peak. Tomorrow was the day of the discussions and despite the fact that no one really wanted to be there, it was part of their mission and Konoha Shinobi, whether they were active or rouge did as they were dictated.

~It was plain to see how the group was split up, anyone with half a brain cell realized that Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sai stuck together as they knew each other exceedingly well for the most part, while Master Kodai and Yagura followed behind in their own set group. The only people who didn't seem to care about the group's hierarchy was Itachi and Utakata, although as Sakura peered on wordlessly, she wondered if their distance from the others wasn't something that ran just a little deeper. The ex-Akatsuki member and the Jinchuriki of the slug demon had spent years in isolation, their people skills weren't as refined as the others, even Sasuke had more time spent with actual human beings then these two did it seemed.

~Taking up the rear and guarding from the back, Sakura felt herself distancing her swift pace from the others. Since the conversation between the younger Uchiha and herself had ended so poorly, her mind had begun to wander, leaving her inexplicably disinterested in company as she lost herself in her own personal reverie. After she had made her demand, the dark haired Shinobi had silently climbed to his feet and left the conversation unfinished and the woman in dire need of some thinking space.

~"You know," the slug container began, falling in step beside the female nin with the stormy expression, "I've seen more cheer at a funeral. What's eating at you?"

~Sakura gave the brown tufted ninja an peculiar look, a stark mix between confusion and irritation, but Utakata wasn't one to back down easily, especially not in the presence of beautiful women. He grinned eloquently and blurred a few steps ahead of the Kunoichi, using his endless bounds of chakra to easily make circles around her while she watched in silence.

~At first, the ANBU medic found the man's pedantic joking almost nerve grating, but the longer he circled her with that cheeky smile that strongly reminded her of a cat, the more it seemed to grow on her. The man bounded back and forth in some unknown dance without music until he reached into his weapon's pouch to produce his flute.

~"Oh, this should be good," Sakura laughed, rolling her uncut jades into the back of her head.

~Utakata smiled and began to play a peppy tune from his wind instrument as their happy band of misfit ninja continued through the dense forest and occasional clearings. He never once slowed down, offering some form of jesting comfort to the woman in exchange for putting up with his antics and frankly he didn't care if she didn't like them, it was about putting a smile on her pretty, flawless features whether she wanted it or not.

~"You know," Sakura giggled lowly when she noticed Naruto and Kakashi passing the oddball Shinobi strange looks, "you're one of the most-"

~"Attractive ninja you've ever met?"

~"No," her smile didn't waver.

~"Most musically inclined?"

~"Not even close."

~"I know! I have the biggest—" he paused seeing her wide-eyed expression fade into amusement, "package?" It was more of a personally asked question then one directed to her, as if to reiterate that she knew anything about his lower extremities.

~Despite the perverted nature the conversation had turned towards, Sakura found herself finding the lighthearted banter better than wallowing in her own self-pity, "yes, Uta. While you were unconscious, I stripped you naked for the sheer need to see your penis. Does that suffice?"

~He inched in closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as they ran, "and was it to your liking?"

~"Hmm," her eyes looked thoughtful, clearly mocking him, "in my profession, I've seen a lot of naked men. I would say… on a scale of one to ten. I'll give you an-"

~Someone cleared their throat and tore the two out of their corrupted conversation. Sasuke's voided expression told Sakura that he didn't like the direction of their discussion, but damn it all if she was going to let him get under her skin.

~"Yes, Sasuke?" She asked cutely, contemptuously scoffing his tightened body language.

~"I need to speak with you."

~"I think mister big and bad is angry, Sakura dear," Utakata shoved his instrument away, but didn't remove his arm from around the Kunoichi's shoulder, must to the Uchiha's disdain.

~Sakura realized the three of them had stopped running, leaving them yards away from the rest of their group as the rest charged ahead without thinking anything amiss.

~"Leave container," Sasuke ordered harshly.

~"Oh, I'm shivering in my boots," the Jinchuriki taunted, relishing in the apparent fury sending the youngest Uchiha brat into noticeable tremors.

~"I have no qualms about bringing you to the Kage Summit in pieces, slug demon," his threatening tone left little room for a return, but Utakata didn't enjoy the younger Shinobi's attitude.

~"Sasuke, stop it," Sakura growled, "you're being ridiculous, what's wrong with you?"

~In a blurring movement, neither the Kunoichi nor the six-tail saw, Sakura found her arm snatched up in a vice grip that burned like fire. Sasuke's hold was so tight the blood caught in the lower part of her limb turned her fingers an unnatural red, his own knuckles whitening from the force.

~"Kami!" She hissed out and struggled to wrench her arm away, "let go, that hurts!"

~"Come on, ass hole. Leave her alone," Uta began, raising his hand to stop the Shinobi from getting too rough, but Sakura's free hand touched his chest gently and held the man back.

~"Go," she pleaded with her eyes, "it's all right. I'll be all right."

~It took a few more seconds to convince the Jinchuriki, but he finally yielded and leapt to another tree branch, stopping to give angry words of warning, "if you hurt her. I will _end_ you." He disappeared into the dense foliage without another word, leaving behind a staring Kunoichi and angry Shinobi.

~"What do you want?" Sakura mused, finally wrenching her arm away, "we were just talking." Suddenly she wondered why she even told him that, it wasn't his business who she spoke to or what she did, he didn't own her.

~"I don't like it when you talk to other men."

~"It's kind of part of my job description," Sakura rubbed her aching forearm, helping to alleviate some of her discomfort with a few soothing tendrils of green and gold laced chakra.

~"Fine, be polite and end the conversation, don't goad the container into thinking there's more between you then there really is."

~Disbelief crossed the pinkette's features as she tried in vain to figure the Uchiha out, he was just too damn confusing at times and it irritated her, "what is this really about, Sasuke?"

~A shadow blurred beside the talking ninjas and Itachi's curious visage came into view. His eyes asked the questions his zipped lips didn't dare utter.

~"We're talking," Sakura murmured softly, her forest green irises begging the older man to stay and help her.

~"We don't have time for this," was the returned comment and Sasuke growled.

~"I am tired of putting this off, you told me to talk to her, well I'm doing that. So mind your own business, Itachi."

~"Fine, but talk to Sakura on your own time." There was a tone of scolding in the ex-Akatsuki member's voice and it forced his younger brother to crane his neck around to give him an icy stare, although it had little effect.

~Before a fight broke out that ended in Sakura needing to fix one or both of the boys, she stepped between them and kept her body squarely facing the younger, "I promise, when we get to the summit, we'll talk. Deal?"

~Sasuke said nothing, but nodded and blurred off, leaving behind a sighing Kunoichi.

~"Are you all right?" Itachi's voice cut through her stormy thoughts and she looked up at him, noticing the deep grooves beneath his eyes seemed deeper than normal and he appeared genuinely exhausted.

~"I've had better days," she snapped quickly and leapt for another branch. If she hurried, she could catch up to Utakata and apologize for the stupidity of Sasuke. It was a stupid thing to do and she hated having to do it, but there would be an uncomfortable silence the entire way to the summit if she didn't. That was the last thing she wanted, especially with the foul mood she was thrust back into.

* * *

~Kage Peak was a high mountain top, surrounded on all sides by other jagged precipices that protected the sacred ground with insurmountable heights and below freezing weather. It lay silently off of three country borders; Fire Country, Kusa, and Taki, having been built during the time of the first Kages. This place of multiple intersecting countries had become something of a fanatic's worship ground years ago and was named holy because of the effects the high altitude atmosphere had on the human brain. Many over the generations had attempted to climb it in search of higher learning into the plane of Kami. Most of those simply died due to exposure, frostbite, and dehydration. It wasn't until a band of ninjas from a combined country alliance finally agreed to make a way to the top for the Shinobi so that their men stopped dying in pursuit to the top.

~ Snow was a constant here and storms reigned supreme, making climbing the summit difficult if not nearly impossible. The only way to the top was a precariously built lift that carried most bodies up the rocky edge and was powered by chakra. It made civilians non-existent at the top and kept the temple-like building in pristine condition. Very few were allowed within the building's walls and it could only be used for peaceful meetings between the leaders of the Hidden Ninja Villages, as it was being watched carefully by a small band of eunuch monks trained in the arts of hand-to-hand combat and some limited weapons training.

~The monks called themselves, Angels of Kami, reinforcing their name by cutting off all ties to the rest of the world and blockading themselves at the top in hopes to become closer to the gods. Some could agree that even the act of disfiguring themselves by castration was a way to forgo their earthly desires and allow them to fully take on everything that was needed to become _ascended_.

~Sakura tried hard not to let the rampant comments from the goddess show on her face as she smiled politely to a young boy monk barely old enough to know what it meant to kiss a girl. He took her weapons and pack, bowing low and smiling in return as his fellow religious followers did the same to the other Shinobi she stood with. Everyone seemed slightly disconcerted about being without their gear or some form of protection, but in all fairness, they had been warned before they left Konoha. This place wouldn't allow objects of war and destruction within the inner walls of the temple.

_~"You're entire being is considered a weapon!"_ Ganimaru snorted wildly, laughing crazily the further into the sanctum of this place they went. Both goddess and Kunoichi took note of the ancient scriptures lining the alabaster stone walls and let the sheer power of this place sink into them. There was more than fifteen different languages carved here, only two or three of which Sakura alone could decipher, having had to read many different tomes for her poisons and cures over the years. But what was more surprising was how many of the words Ganimaru could read with her inner eyes. She glanced across the walls and the ceilings, taking in as much of the information as she could and grinned savagely when Sakura awed at the knowledge that poured into the Kunoichi's mind.

_~"I've been here since the beginning and I've taken note of the constant rise and falling of thousands of civilizations, Sakura. How could you possibly think I couldn't comprehend more then you?"_ The goad wasn't unkind, but showed the medical nin just how little she truly understood about the goddess and she wondered if it was time to have a sit down discussion with the ancient creature to find out what she did know.

~_"In time, Sakura. In time."_ Was the answer the girl was given.

~The Kage Room seemed simple enough in its design; a round room with white stone pillars that lined the inner walls with strange animal depictions lining clear up to the high rising ceiling nearly ten stories up. Every story possessed a kind of viewing area for those not directly related to the discussions, where they could watch as the Kages deliberated.

~In the middle of the wide room stood a circular table where Sakura was sure the debates would be held just as soon as all the village leaders arrived and as much a she wanted to explore the room more, she was surprised by the one present person all ready sitting at the Kage's table.

~"I didn't think I would see you until tomorrow morning," Sakura called, her voice echoing in the large space and the brick colored red head lifted his gaze from the paperwork before him to meet the soft stare of someone he hadn't expected to see.

~He clearly had known someone was there, but not that particular someone with pink tresses that flitted beautifully down the expanse of her back, ending in curly tendrils near the bottom of her heart shaped ass, and eyes the same shade as summer grass that were just as inviting.

~"Hello, Haruno," Gaara of the Sand Coffin said respectfully, shuffling a few pieces of less important paperwork around to appear less busy than he really was. The raccoon demon within him warbled lightly and the man listened intently as he stared down the pretty Kunoichi.

~"I hope your journey wasn't too stressful," Sakura continued the tit-for-tat back and forth, hoping to draw the one-tailed container into a more meaningful conversation. She hadn't expected to see him… well she knew he would be here, but not that she would have had any reason to speak to him, but seeing him up here all alone in this room made it impossible for her to just saunter out without saying something to him. Their last meeting hadn't ended as well as she would have liked.

~"No."

~The Kunoichi looked down at her black booted feet, feeling slightly naked without the covering of her mask. Gaara's light jade eyes were searching her over, as if trying to decipher her reason for being there, but suddenly Shukaku whispered something into his ear and he stiffened.

~"You're different, Haruno. Something inside you is different."

~Taking his meaning to be about the growing unborn ones housed in her, she blushed hotly and raised a hand to her belly, "it's complicated."

~Gaara gave her a confused stare, his black-rimmed, exhausted eyes took in her motions and realization dawned on him. "I…" He stopped, looking for the right words, "I congratulate you on your-"

~"I didn't mean to hurt you," she said suddenly, walking forward and climbing the dais steps to the table, "I had something I _needed_ to do and it got out hand."

~Sand poured from his gourd without a sound, but it was clearly visible and littered the ground in an attempt to protect its master from harm.

~Sakura looked away, hurt marring her features. She didn't think she'd hurt him bad enough to be mistrustful of her, over the years of her back and forth from Leaf to Sand, learning what she could from their libraries extensive scrolls and poison master, Grandma Chiyo, she thought he would have more faith in her. She had taught his hospital staff everything she knew about medical knowledge, and they in turn showed her what they could. It had been a long relationship of giving and taking, leading Sakura to believe that the Kazakage she had come to respect over the years, might hold her in some trustful regard. She was saddened he didn't feel the same.

~"_He's_ protecting me from the _thing_ inside you," Gaara said shortly. He piled together his paperwork, leaving it unfinished, knowing he could always return to it when this little meeting between minds was over. He folded his arms over his chest and watched as the medical Kunoichi turned her attention back on the Kazakage.

~"It's a goddess, from a Living Scroll. It's part of the reason I needed to leave so… _suddenly_."

~"_He_ can hear her talking to him."

~Sakura smiled nervously, the expression dropping almost as soon as it crossed her face, "she does that a lot. Talks to all the demons. It's a little unnerving at times."

~"I know." He did in fact know what it was like to have something that constantly spoke to you, day and night; taunting him, hating him, hurting him, wanting to devour him whole. It was a vicious thing that took and gave, protecting him only when it felt the container would be destroyed or maimed, and took from him _everything_. It was a wonder he hadn't gone completely insane from it, though he did wonder at times just how far down the proverbial rabbit hole he was. He was far from normal, everyone could vouch for that, but he wasn't some mumbling lunatic… Not anymore at least.

~Silence stalked both of them for a few long, lingering seconds as Sakura tried to find something else to say while the red head simply stared at her almost coldly in an attempt to appear like he cared. Somewhere deep within him he knew he did, but with Shukaku's badgering he had grown weary of the emotion. It wasn't Sakura's fault per say that he felt like he needed to shut off his emotional well of empathy, though her actions in their previous encounter hadn't helped much.

~"Is Grandma Chiyo here?" She asked suddenly, breaking more of the uncomfortable silence between them.

~"Yes."

~"I had hoped to speak with her about a poison I've collected recently. I'm glad she accompanied you."

~"Hm," Gaara had made a sound similar in tone and sound to that of Sasuke and it took the Kunoichi aback for a second. They were oddly enough, similar in so many ways, and the more she looked at it, different in so many others. Both were stone cold killers, strong, calculated, at times selfish, even if Gaara had seemed to mature a lot more then the Uchiha, he still held a close resemblance in personality to the darker Shinobi.

~Rising to his feet, Gaara took his folder of paperwork with him, finding this conversation to borderline dull and the pounding headache that was his inner demon was beginning to grow unbearable. His eyes flashed annoyance when she gaped at him in confusion, but didn't dare ask him to stay, the dangerous gleam that surfaced in his irises told her she needed to back away slowly. Right at that moment she was in danger of becoming prey, that's what his expression told her and that wasn't something she wanted to become. No matter the amount of skill she possessed, she would never be able to best or outrun Gaara of the Bloody Sand. He wasn't something to be contained or ran from. When his predatory stare focused solely on something, it was given to him or he took it without thought as to who it would hurt or _kill_. It was how he was, and even with years of fighting to control that portion of himself, he would never fully have power over it. The demon inside would still eat at him, still whisper notions of death and blood, and the only thing he could was try to appease the evil Tanuki with promises of blood from those who deserved it. Even then, Gaara wasn't sure that would even work.

~He turned to go, his Kage robes whispering across the marble floor and something inside Sakura snapped. She didn't want him to leave on a note like that, couldn't stand it if he hated her. It didn't matter if he didn't like her very much and found her presence irritating and weak, but she wouldn't have him _hate_ her.

~Without thinking it thoroughly through, she flung out her hand and snatched up his free one, the reaction instantaneous. Sand screamed from his gourd, racing down his imprisoned arm and up her arm. It left behind bleeding marks and gashes, grooving up her forearm and to her shoulder before it was stopped by the Kazakage. Papers were flung away as he spun around to face Sakura and he grabbed at the now bloody red sand, pulling it back, stilling the sands movement instantly.

~"You know better," he growled out, making it apparent how difficult it was for him to hold onto his limited restraint. He watched her pained expression slowly drip from her façade and leave behind a tearful look.

~"I know," she whispered, her hand still tightly grasping his own. "Please don't hate me."

~He sighed deeply and pulled his sand back, his mind screaming to silence the damn one-tail. His sister's words about communicating amicably with others was suddenly flung into his head, she always said to read the situation with every person and ascertain the right way to answer. This moment called for a gentle hand and soft words, especially towards someone who was in obvious need to hear them, "I don't hate you."

~"But you don't trust me right now," she murmured, listening to Ganimaru warble around inside her head angrily. Her thoughts were becoming so jumbled it was painful as was the bleeding gouges the goddess was now trying to heal on her arm.

~Gaara reigned in his famous temper, raising his free hand to Sakura's face and taking a tight grip on one of her hanging pink locks, "I do. Believe me I do. But you're no longer—" his eyes flashed something indescribable, like a cross of emotions between longing and sadness, "attainable."

~A heated blush spread across her nose and cheeks like wildfire and she wasn't sure why, but something akin to a hungering ache filled the pit of her chest as she briefly wondered on the what ifs in life for a moment. Gaara was a humble man, had grown humble and mature in the years since he had learned to control his anger and the demonic presence that continually threatened to drown him out. He would have made a decent conversation companion as well as something more, and if she hadn't had been stupid in their parting, he might still have considered her for at least one of those positions.

~"My house burned down and the flower was destroyed," she said suddenly, afraid of his reaction, but he pleasantly surprised her by a near half-cocked smile that almost upturned the edges of his thin lips.

~"I will get you another."

~Sakura felt her grip loosen and she let him go finally, sufficed enough to let him leave without hard feelings between them. "In five years, you'll take me to see the Moon Fields again, right?"

~_"If he's still breathing,"_ Ganimaru piped up cackling and mentally Sakura wished to drop a boulder on the ancient for ruining a tender moment.

~"Yes. I will." He nodded to her gently and picked up his scattered papers, leaving the Kage Room without another word and leaving behind the frozen Kunoichi.

~"That was beautifully romantic, sister," a voice sliced into the calm void of silence and Sakura's eyes darted about to look for the source of the sound. She peered up a story level and hiding behind one of the tall pillars stood a shadowed specter peering on as if nothing were wrong with peeping.

~"Who are you?" She asked snidely, angry for having been taken off guard, especially during a moment she had assumed would be just between the Kazakage and herself.

~Stepping from the shadows and dressed in clothes unlike anything Sakura had ever seen before, she felt something inside her snap before she blurred towards the strange looking man and clambered into his grasp. Ganimaru had been the one to briefly take over, the goddess' overwhelming emotions were a surprising shock to the medic's system, but what surprised her more was the affectionate way this green haired, almost nymph-like man fondled her in his grasp.

~"I missed you," Ganimaru purred through Sakura's lips, "I thought you were sleeping."

~"Not a chance, sister. I heard the trees crying out, I felt I needed to answer." His hands were roaming, touching her from head to hip, easily turning Sakura's senses to mush as the sparking electricity that raced from Horachikyu's fingertips collided with her skin and slipped beneath it. He was giving her chakra, bounds of it and gently deboning her very spine from her body. In seconds, Sakura was a fleshy pile of soft, wanton moans and girlish sighs, absorbing every delicious inch of power she was given.

~"Hungry, Ganimaru?" The complacent, male god asked, grinning fiendishly. He leaned down and kissed the bridge of the pinkette's nose, moving to her cheeks, and pausing just before he touched her lips. "You have not been taking care of yourself."

~His lips crashed down atop of hers, bruising the soft dusty pink flesh with his combined need and ardor, forcing a steady stream of energy to rocket through her entire body. It was absolutely mind-numbing and without clear minded thinking, Sakura felt herself becoming lost in the feelings she was being forced into.

~A Kunai whistled through the air and imbedded itself into Horachikyu's shoulder, but the god merely grunted and continued his lazy administerings until the angry presence of some easily forgotten Shinobi became too much.

~Sakura languidly turned her eyes towards the lighted entrance to this level and saw the swirling Sharingan of Sasuke, angrily staring both her and the god down.

~"_Let_. _Her_. _Go_," he hissed and Chikyu grinned sheepishly, lifting the medic easily to her own feet, licking his lips as he went.

~"She is a _fine_ Kunoichi," the god tersely whimpered, pushing the slightly lost pinkette forward until she collapsed into the Uchiha's arms, a paltry mess of useless material. She could barely form a thought in her head as Sasuke lifted her like a misused bride and stalked off without another word.

~Horachikyu touched his green tinted lips lightly with his still buzzing fingertips and curtly laughed a small creature slithering from underneath his mass of grassy colored locks to rest on his shoulder, "you know, Gambit. I think my sister has chosen her predecessor _very_ well."

~The tiny, fox looking creature with large ears yawned gracelessly, squeaking at its master with huge, tired eyes. It looked at him with mocking disinterest, the honey pot gold with black flecks around its irises danced adorably, before shrilly barking and climbing back into the nest of the god's hair. When it disappeared, the demonic ancient smiled and confirmed his before statement.

~"Yes—" he licked his lips, still tasting the sugary sweetness that was the odd hair colored Kunoichi, "she will be a fine replacement."

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**Author's Note**: Some of you may be unhappy with how I portrait Gaara of Suna, unfortunately I don't really care how you guys feel about it, just as I am not interested in how you may like or dislike how I kept Itachi alive. Itachi, Gaara, and Sakura are essentially my favorite characters in the whole Naruto series, both for their in depth character backgrounds and underlying personalities and pasts. The way I portrait them is important to me because I want to show Itachi, the strongest Shinobi likely in existence, (aside from most likely Madara) at a weak point, where it looks like he might break. It proves that he feels and is still mortal. The same goes for Gaara, I want to show him in a light that appears that he is coping with the strangling, almost near drowning hold that Shukaku has over him, and that in some instances he's winning the war if sometimes losing the battles. Finally there's Sakura. I know I seem to go back and forth with her character on whether I wish her to be strong or weak, and the only explanation I can give for this is that though I know she is strong and powerful, I do realize I have turned her ANBU in this story selection and with it comes certain personality traits. What I'm trying to give to you readers in her, is the inner conflict between being that powerful Kunoichi she feels she is required to portrait because she is ANBU and Sannin trained, and the weakness she feels inside herself because of the things that have happened in her past. She is strong, no one can say she isn't physically powerful, but of heart she is weak because of the turmoil her life has lead her in.

~Sorry for the super long note, but I needed to show you guys a little bit of my thoughts on this because I've been given some mail that requests to know why I made Sakura weak in front of Sasuke in some instances. Personally, I have been in similar situations that I have put Sakura in… (writers can only write about things they know. If you write about things you have never felt or experienced the writing will come off cheap and crudely done.) and because of that I know how I felt in those instances and how most people would react. Now, I do try hard to be as close to Sakura's personality as I can, but I do have to twist her character a little to fit this story properly and hope you guys can forgive me for doing so.

**P.S.** This is a very long, long, long, long chapter. Sorry, it dragged on forever, I hope next chapter won't drag on… thank you! R&R please, your reviews keep me writing instead of getting bored! And sorry for poor grammar, misspellings, and the like… I've been writing for 5 days straight, fictions and non fictions alike, I'm exhausted and looking over my writing isn't high on my priority list. I'll do it when I correct the whole fiction later. I have about 5 chapters left I surmise, and the Epilogue is going to be a doozy (X.x;;) Don't worry, I think you'll like it, but it's going to be a masterpiece I try to perfect before I fully write it, have fun! TY BYE BYE!

Lady A.R.R.O.

**AND EVERYONE! PLEASE DO ME THE GREAT HONOR OF GOING TO MY PROFILE PAGE AND VOTING ON THE NAMES OF THE TWINS SAKURA IS CARRYING. THERE IS A RATHER LARGE LIST OF NAMES AND I'M DISAPPOINTED IN THE MEASLY AMOUNT OF VOTES THERE ARE AT THE MOMENT. IF THERE AREN'T ENOUGH PEOPLE WHO VOTE ON THE POLL, I WILL JUST RANDOMLY CLOSE MY EYES AND THROW A DART FOR THE NAMES! THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!**


	28. Fighting Like Children

**Author's Note:** I swear to God/Kami… whatever is up there that I will have this fiction done in 5 chapters or less so help me! (Not including the BITCHING epilogue I have planned) Yay! People cheer me on, I'm really working hard here!

_**Thank you!**_ This chapter is dedicated to...

SakuraUchiha44530 - As my BIGGEST FAN EVER I think you deserve some spotlight! Thank you for the ego boost!

SixMagnitudeGirl - As always, here is your requested update!

Anne - God, I always look for your reviews after I post a new chapter because your great at artful criticism when and where it is needed! Thank you!

Mary S. Jane - You are another looked for reviewer! You always give me the ego boost I need to continue writing the next chapter!

.. - You make me blush with your critiques, thank you!

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Naruto: Shippuden

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_**Chapter 28  
Fighting Like Children**_

_"I will not make the same mistake you did.__  
__I will not let myself cause my heart so much misery...__  
__I will not break the way you did.__  
__You fell so hard...__  
__Because of you, I learned to play of the safe side__  
__So I don't get hurt.__  
__Because of you I find it hard to trust not only me,__  
__But everyone around me.__  
__Because of you…  
I. Am. Afraid.__  
__I lose my way and it's not too long before you point it out.__  
__I cannot cry, because I know it's weakness in your eyes.__  
__I'm forced to fake a smile, a laugh, every day of my life.__  
__My heart can't possibly break,__  
__When it wasn't even whole to start with...__  
__I've watched you die,__  
__I heard you cry every night in your sleep.__  
__I was so young,__  
__You should have known better than to lean on me.__  
__You never thought of anyone else,__  
__You just saw your pain.__  
__Andnow I cry in the middle of the night.__  
__For. The. Same. Damn. Thing...__  
__Because of you I tried my hardest just to forget everything.__  
__Because of you I don't know how to let anyone else in.__  
__Because of you I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty.__  
__Because of you I'm afraid.__  
__Because of you..."_

_~Kelly Clarkson - Because of You_

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~The Kunoichi's glazed over appearance only served to irritate the bristling Uchiha the more and more he looked at her. Her emerald corneas danced with unspoken pleasure, though Sasuke was sure if the girl had her wits about her she'd likely be moaning. It infuriated him seeing someone else touching her, kissing her, giving her affection that only_ he_ should've be allowed to give.

~Ganimaru purred underneath the surface, a veil of shimmering gold chakra forcing its way to the surface and brimming softly on the top of Sakura's skin. The girl practically glittered like she had a thick sheet of diamonds encasing her porcelain flesh and slowly, as the pinkette felt herself coming to her senses, the lustrous sparkle faded and the goddess' consciousness sunk beneath the waves of her container's mind.

~"Wha-what happened?" She breathed out, raising a hand to her pounding head. "It feels like I've been…" Her voice trailed off and a bright shade of scarlet crossed the bridge of her nose too quick for her to stifle and Sasuke caught the expression.

~" 'Like'?" He ground out through clenched teeth, sounding more like a hiss than anything else.

~"I've been… you know…" If her face could have flushed any darker it would have, likely leaving no blood in the rest of her body. "Why are you carting me around like an oversized ragdoll?"

~Sasuke stopped, peering down at his annoying charge and promptly dropped her, a scream rippling through the halls. It echoed through the emptiness of the temple. He watched her ass bounce off the stone ground before she slammed him hard with a lethal look, boring holes through his head as her temper rose to tempestuous levels.

~"What the hell was that for?"

~"Hn."

~The pregnant nin bolted to her feet, all dragon rage and harpy fury, "what the fuck, Sasuke? What's wrong with you?"

~"Hn." His disinterested expression only served to fuel Sakura's throbbing irritation, an almost visible heat coming off her in waves while she struggled to stifle down the only logical reaction to his insensitivity, punching him to a bloody pulp.

~She fisted her hands tightly, clenching and unclenching them until her fuming ire became manageable, "fine, you prick. Like you're worth it anyway." Her intent was to whirl on her high-heeled sandal, but in mid spin, something snatched up her black gloved hand and yanked her back, drawing her flush against a flak vest and muscle hardened chest.

~In a swift second, Sasuke claimed the pinkette's confused and pouting lips, spreading them apart savagely while he delved in his searching tongue. His assault was swift and without mercy, assuaging a deeper need within him that he had to squelch before it took root in his mind. He had to _clean_ her of that _other_ male's presence, to ensure that Sakura was indeed still_ his._

~Sakura fought at first, struggling almost violently to pull away, but Sasuke refused her release, pushing her further out of her comfort zone and further into the sector of pleasure that coursed through her nether regions and blossomed throughout her body in its entirety. She moaned against him, her knees weakening just slightly, yet it was enough to tell the Uchiha to wrap his arms around the Kunoichi and shove her against the nearest wall for support.

~Her hands were on his shoulders, his neck, his chest, and finally found a home in his hair, tangling her fingers in the onyx locks and yanking him inexplicably closer. She was losing herself, feeling a kind of runaway emotion passing through her she wasn't ready to deal with.

~_"You love him,"_ Ganimaru rumbled lowly without a shred of emotion, causing the Kunoichi to suddenly jerk.

~The notion was inconceivable, practically unheard of. She had squashed her feelings a long time ago under the guise of self-preservation, even though it was really to shield her aching insidse from any more pain. This man was the reason she had hurt for so long, he had stripped her of everything she held dear simply because he could and left her nothing but this horrible feeling of constant emptiness.

~Sasuke felt Sakura flinch, sensed the sudden flooding of apprehension turn her body frigid and he pulled away to look down at her. Her bangs came across her vision, blocking him from seeing her expression, but something inside told him she was having an inner conflict with herself.

~"Why?" She whispered nearly inaudibly.

~" 'Why' what?"

~"Why are you doing _this_?" She looked back up, eyes glistening and emotions raging. Her hands had managed to untangle themselves from his soft locks and floated to cup his shoulder blades tenderly.

~A slight smirk crossed his features, "because I want to."

~If that damn Uchiha hadn't been so handsome, so… beautiful, she might have punched him. Simply threw out her inhibitions and socked his right in his nose, hoping to break it, maybe than he wouldn't be so damn attractive.

~"Don't you feel anything when you do it?" She had asked it so innocently, even added on a tiny tinging of pink to her cheeks to stress her point.

~His smirk dripped away so quickly, it was as if it hadn't been there at all. She wanted him to say he liked her, felt something for her that wasn't just lust… she wanted to hear, _I love you_. He wasn't going to lie to himself and say he felt nothing; comradery, yes. Need for her presence, perhaps. Though lust would be high on that list and both of them knew it, he didn't know if _love_ was up there as well.

~Jade green eyes searched ebony jet, probing deeply for his feelings, hoping to catch something that could give her hope. Even if the emotion was small, like a tiny flickering glimmer, it was a start. A glimmer she could hold onto and nurture until it grew, but all Sakura could see was uncertainty and slight irritation. He didn't love her, not like she was beginning to towards him again. It was starting to turn out just like before, and it would turn out exactly as it had before, only this time she had other lives at stake. That realization felt like a cold slap to the face and she yanked herself out of his grip. She couldn't stand staying in his burning touch if it meant she would be hurt again like she always was, turned inside out by her ardent need for love and affection from someone who was unable to give it. He could take from her, that much she knew for certain. This Uchiha was absolutely capable of taking from her everything she had in her heart without so much as a promise for tomorrow, it was why she had told him to marry her. Somewhere in her deluded brain, she assumed it would be a pledge to love and cherish her, but the more she debated on that subject, the more she realized how stupid it sounded. Fake words spoken even with the best intentions, were still lies no matter how much you dressed them up to look like beautiful truths.

~Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously on her, strongly disagreeing with her sudden detachment from him. He watched her shoulders sag and listened to the loud sigh that rushed through her well-ravaged lips. At first there was nothing to say, he knew what she wanted but realized his pride would neither allow him to say it, nor his heart force him to utter words he didn't mean. He was cold hearted at times, mean and otherwise selfishly only looking out for his own interests before others, though in this case... when it came to Sakura… he couldn't go against his conscious, his inner demons might come out.

~She sniffled and smiled through the veil of tears, an obviously fake smile while her iridescent eyes floated in sadness. They begged him to say something, anything to calm her down and bring her off this wretched misery low that threatened to choke her into oblivion, but the sound of footsteps behind them drew both ninjas from their reverie.

~"I found you, Sakura!" Naruto gushed and latched onto her arm, not even noticing the heaviness that surrounded the pinkette and her ebony, male counterpart. He smiled unnervingly at Sasuke and thumbed his nose, "you don't mind if I take her for a minute?" Surprisingly it wasn't really a question as much as it had sounded like one and seconds later Sakura was dragged away before she could burst into tears. She thanked Kami for small miracles and stupid friends.

"She will leave you if you can't promise her what she desires," the irritating voice of the dark chocolate-eyed brother wafted to the younger's ears and the man almost flinched, though managed to contain the telling movement.

~"I won't lie to her."

~"After everything you've done to her and you can't lie to someone for their happiness? Brother, I knew you were selfish, but your egotistical nature knows no bounds." Itachi formed from the darkness, his arms crossed over his chest menacingly. He had no intention of starting a fight here on this sacred ground, but he wasn't about to let his brother screw up his only chance at being normal.

~"And how would _you_ know my nature?" Sasuke hissed, eyes swirling into red at the tomoes throbbed in anger.

~"You are just like you were when we were younger, selfish, cruel, and immature."

~Sasuke turned slowly, the anger and hatred permeating off his pale skin. His eyes locked with the older Uchiha's and held there, steady and unwavering, bloody red against mahogany black. There was a predatorial glare that passed between the brothers and something insanely dark and evil _slithered_ behind Sasuke's eyes, causing a Itachi's left eyebrow to raise slightly.

~"At this rate, you'll consume her and leave nothing but a shell," with that said, Itachi stalked passed his brother, leaving the silent younger male glaring ahead without a shred of human emotion crossing his façade.

~"So what were you and Teme talking about?" Naruto took a gaping bite of ramen, choking on a dislodged piece of beef in the process. He pounded his chest for a second before finally coughing his problem free and raising his gaze to his unruly and hushed partner in crime.

~Her eyes had an unusually shiny glimmer about them that the blonde could only describe as irritatingly sad, it made him wonder what that stupid chicken brained asshole had done to the girl he'd loved for more than six years.

~Sakura said nothing, keeping her irises focused firmly on the wooden, bare table, glaring down at the toxic looking sludge she assumed was ramen. Her churning emotions had done enough to her appetite, although the sudden jerking movements of the twins weren't helping either.

~"Sa-ku-ra!" Naruto sing-songed and pushed his empty bowl aside to give the pinkette his full, undivided attention, or as undivided as was possible with Naruto Uzumaki. "You've been quiet and pissy since we left," he debated for a swift second, "actually for awhile now. In fact I'd say it's been years since you actually showed some real happiness."

~"Naruto," the Kunoichi began, her swirling, angry aura struck him full in the face, "I would get to the point before I smash my knuckles into your nose."

~The nine-tail shivered at the thought, but brushed it aside with a quick shake of his head, "I mean, you've been depressed and sad since that stupid fucker left, and yea, the past few months have been really bad… and I guess the circumstances now aren't really the greatest-"

~"I swear to Kami, Naruto, finish your point or I _will_ make you see stars."

~"Sakura, why aren't you _ever_ happy?" Even though she should have expected this kind of a question, it still seemed to catch her off guard. Her raised fist slowly lowered and came to rest in her lap as her eyes fell .

~"I-I…" She wasn't sure how to answer, there was always this lingering sadness that felt like some over heavy weight that blanketed her and drug her to the bottom of a pond. For a long time she had spent her time looking up from the water's sludgy floor, staring up at the shimmering, smiling faces of her friends and family, everyone feeling so full of life and energy while she withered and drowned, unable to even tread water.

~"Is it all because of him?"

~Sakura raised her gaze and was met full force with a searching pair of aqua blue eyes, they stared her down and struggled to find some sort of reasoning in her insanity, "if it is him, why don't you just forget about him?"

~"Could you?"

~"That's different, Sakura. I want him around because he's my best friend. You want him because you… love him. But he doesn't love you and I don't think he ever will."

~The pinkette's expression morphed quickly and she looked as if she'd been slapped. It wasn't some kind of sudden, unexplainable realization, she knew Sasuke would most likely never love her, but to hear it so forwardly put from someone who was supposed to have her best interests at heart. She stuttered in her thoughts over the last half of her ramblings, Naruto… though a jerk, blunt, thoughtless, untactful, over-bearing, and a complete idiot was absolutely, inexplicably, continuously, always looking out for her and stating the apparent obvious. He loved her, more than he should, and he wanted her to be happy. If it meant causing her a few tears, he would do it simply because he was her best friend.

~Unwanted wetness pooled at the corners of her eyes, and despite the surrounding ninjas from other countries as well as her own, Sakura let a few fat tears slid down her cheeks. She leaned forward, hiding her face in her friend's shoulder, ignoring Kakashi's saddened glance or Sai's concerned expression. Others had paused to look, those that knew her could only sigh, but they all quickly were thrust into attention as the sudden arrival of the Kages from every major country entered the large cafeteria room.

~Sakura looked up and over Naruto's shoulder, her hands splayed out over the blonde's chest while he held her gently, hoping to offer some sort of comfort.

~"Can I please have everyone's attention?" An old looking monk cleared his throat and whatever remaining chatter that had been going on was immediately squelched. "I have scrolls for a few choice Shinobis that will accompany their designated Kages into the Inner Sanctum. Please come take your orders as I call you…"

~Names were called and men and women of the ninja way went and grabbed their orders, bowing low in the deepest respect for the bald, nearly hunched over man who was obviously the leader of this temple. As the Kages exited wordlessly, following in tow behind the nameless monk, there was a flurry of action on all sides as everyone flew to the viewing area of the Inner Sanctum, the scroll holders remaining behind to glance over their appointed tasks.

~"I can't believe I didn't get one," Naruto growled out, "even the tactless retard got a scroll." He waved his arms angrily in Sai's direction.

~"I am told simply to accompany you, Naruto. I don't think this is really a mission."

~"You're going to babysit me?" The blonde seemed outraged.

~"Quiet," a nearby Shinobi from Mist ground out. He has a black eye patch covering his right rocket and took on all the heated appearance of a frightening bodyguard, stalking out of the room with his orders in hand with a very petite Kunoichi that couldn't have been older than eight. She dawdled passed the Leaf nin and Sakura glanced down in just enough time to see the girl's eyes, they were as pink as her hair… as pink as they eyes of someone else she knew.

~There was a mutual shuffling of feet as the others remaining behind went about their business, leaving with haste and Sakura at length rolled up her scroll. She was summoned to Tsunade's side, likely to relay some form of a story about the gods and goddesses, although she wondered if maybe Kodai wouldn't have been a better choice. The ancient man was around here somewhere, as was the others of their rag tag group of misfit ninjas.

~She looked up and saw Naruto, who remained behind with Sai, give her a sympathetic expression, "I'm fine, Naruto. Go. I'm going to Tsunade."

~He nodded and gently touched her arm lovingly, "I'm always here."

~"I know," she smiled gratefully, watching his orange suited back until it disappeared around the corner.

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**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

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~"How do we know what you're saying is true?" Kage Onoki raged on, his bulbous nose for some reason had struck Sakura as odd, not that his dwarfed height wasn't all ready strange, she just hadn't pictured a leader that was so physically _unattractive_.

~_"Men of power don't always look beautiful,"_Ganimaru whispered, listening with burning intent to the back and forth bickering between the continent's most powerful men and women.

~Starting from the far left, Sakura could make out the Kages perfectly, as well as their respected bodyguards and mentally named off everyone she knew; Yagura had taken position underneath his respectable nation's flag, beside him sat Master Kodai, a frightening looking man named Ao, and the young, pink-eyed girl she hadn't figured out the name of yet, although she was sure she would go ask the Mizukage himself when the chance arose.

~Gaara had come just beside the Water Country's flag and sat stock still in bored attention, a flicker of annoyance playing on his tired features, but he was attentive and listening as Tsunade spoke about the evidence and the things she knew. Sakura was sure he hadn't gotten any kind of rest of late with all the preparations and constant worry as the Akatsuki had been prowling around Suna before his departure here. It was why he only had Temari and Kankuro as bodyguards, in fact it was only the three young Sand Nin, Baki, and Grandma Chiyo that appeared to have been in attendance from Suna today, a stark contrast to Konoha's overwhelming force added to Iwa's and Kiri's.

~Next came Lady Tsunade with the pinkette in tow as well as Kakashi and a very bored looking Toad Sage, who for all intensive purposes likely wasn't needed, but had insisted upon being present at this meeting back in Konoha. If she didn't know any better, the old pervert acted like some sort of a lover to the infamous fifth Hokage of Leaf… good thing she _did_ know better or watching them be slightly lovey would have made her curious. She just wondered when Tsunade would finally agree to take their relationship more public.

~Onoki was the second to last from the right, his two bodyguards, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi both stood at his back menacingly, the rotund male looking slightly less angry than his tall, lithe counterpart female. Both had the appearance of battle ready warriors and Sakura was sure each and every ninja sense within them was finely tuned for any disturbance inside the temple. They would protect their Kage without fail that much she knew if she knew nothing else about them, and that alone put her on edge. Aside from them, the Tsuchikage held an older appearance, bulbous nose, dwarfish stature, and a complete lack of tactful indifference one would expect from a Kage, though the man didn't seem as bad as the pinkette initially thought. He at least was listening and not spouting off angry words some of the more talkative bodyguards continued to verbally vomit.

~Coming up on the far right was a large burly man with dark skin and white hair. He seemed stern and immobile in his ways, resembling some kind of professional wrestler more than a Kage, but he held an air of superior_ force_ for lack of a better word, coming off with a protective stance on everything, almost brotherly and calming. Sakura felt herself respecting the older man even though she had never met or spoken to him before. He had no bodyguards near him.

~"Who do you think you are?" Ao screamed at Tsunade, startling most of the Kage's and half the room of on looking gawkers. The man sternly got to his feet and leaned on the table with a hardened expression that made Sakura think of nails on a chalkboard. It was painful to feel that gaze searching _through_ her Hokage and she could only imagine how Tsunade felt.

~"Last time I checked, I was the Leaf Village's ruler. Sit down, Shinobi of Kiri," the blonde woman's calm comeback had Ao shaking, but he took his seat in silence when Yagura plastered on a furious façade and pointed it towards his very outspoken protector.

~"The Akatsuki are searching for pieces of the Ten-Tail under the reign of the ancient god Kazechi. We don't know exactly what he plans to do, but I know it won't be anything good," Tsunade declared in a voice that bespoke of wisdom and practiced composure.

~Master Kodai nodded solemnly, fixing his gaze hotly on Sakura. His warm, milky white eyes, though sightless seemed to stare into her soul, finding Ganimaru hiding within her sub consciousness, and he smiled gently. He seemed strangely frail today, more so than the last time the medic had seen the ancient and it worried her immensely. In fact, of late the old container for the goddess had been progressively deteriorating for awhile now and the medic made a mental note to speak to him about it when they were in recess.

~The goddess purred at the attention her lover expressed and Sakura blushed hotly, feeling as if she had just been privy to some kind of private hentai flirting between the two older beings, although the goddess said nothing and the angry Kage discussions continued uninterrupted. Hours drawled on by, each ruler giving some kind of helpful… sometimes unhelpful, insight into the knowledge of things they knew of the situation at hand, and surprisingly enough everyone was apprised to the arising problems, cutting down on mindless chatter of having to go over everything from the beginning.

~Sakura felt a strong wave of nausea overcome her senses and she raised her hand from her lap onto her belly, calming the gymnastics of her twin sons, praying they would calm down to allow their mother some peace, but the devilish unborns had their own ideas.

~She looked pleadingly to Kakashi, resisting the urge to jump up and run from the Inner Sanctum towards the nearest bathroom. The man nodded and took a step forward, leaning down to whisper into Tsunade's ear as she listened to the Raikage's intell.

~"I think we should break for awhile until bloods cool somewhat," Tsunade suddenly said and many in the crowd as well as the Kages let out a sigh of relief as well as agreement.

~"We haven't come to a conclusion!" Kurotsuchi yelled out, it seemed over the past hour the short, black haired Kunoichi, dawned in an off pink colored kimono, had become more and more agitated as time had gone on, constantly whispering heated things into her Kage's ear, which the older, mustached man nodded to and sent out frightful glares at everyone. He didn't seem to believe any of this anymore than Ae* did, he just was more brazen about how he lethally disagreed.

~"I don't think in the next hour of recess that anything is going to happen. When we reconvene, the problems and discussions will continue as if nothing interrupted them," Jiraiya wisely spoke up, his arms crossed over his chest. He should have known better than to assume things.

~Onoki hopped down from his chair without a word, the white topknot of hair near the nap of his neck and his shiny bald head were the only things Sakura could see from her vantage point across the table, although she could hear his quieted complaining about how bad his back hurt. It seemed to quell his bodyguard's viperous tongue and most everyone scattered while they had the chance.

~In a flash, Sakura bolted from the room, throwing open the doors even before Onoki, who was first to the exit, could even think to touch the huge, barricaded way out. Her pink locks bounced on her shoulders as she flew towards the nearest bathroom, she didn't even apologize to the black cloaked figure she bumped into right outside her goal destination.

~Everything seemed to happen in slow motion from that second on. Sakura twisted her body to avoid most of the blow, but it didn't stop the wrenching pain she was suddenly in as her shoulder was yanked from its socket when the shrouded figure flung out an arm and twisted her joint from its confining hinges.

~A scream erupted from the woman's throat, pained and blood curdling as she dropped to the floor like a stone, the echoing of her wail rocked the temple clear down to its foundation. She rolled around spineless for a few moments of excruciating agony, barely looking up in enough time to see the face of her hiding attacker, the Akatsuki member from before when Itachi, herself, and Utakata were struggling to escape… Kakuzu.

_~"Get away from me!"_ She bellowed and fought to find her footing, using her still working arm to push her up, but her effort came in vain when the marionette stringed man threw off his cover and snatched up the pinkette by her hair.

~"Shut up. You cost me a pretty penny when you ran away. It took days in a hospital to heal from the damage your little _friend_ did to me," he yanked her close and licked her neck, shivering when he tasted salty fear. He loved this taste.

~"I will kill you," she hissed out, Ganimaru's power suddenly kicking up hot and angry, "if you don't let me go." Her out of socket shoulder popped audibly and let both parties know the goddess' healing powers had allowed her arm to roll back into place, she was now in fighting form.

~"Pretty threats, but I've got something to keep you calm," the Akatsuki member pulled a black beaded necklace from his pocket and watched in smiling satisfaction as the object registered in the goddess' mind. She froze for only a second, feeling a frigid shot of icy fear thunder its way down her spine. If the water witch allowed that unholy_ thing_ to come anywhere near her body, she would become trapped in its chakra holding charm, forcing her to rely only on Sakura's strength.

~_"Get away from him!"_ The ancient shrieked, causing an instantaneous reaction to jerk the medical ninette to action. She fought rabidly, clawing, biting, screaming, more animal than human as her instincts ran amuck of her conscious system. All the pinkette knew was she had to get away, if the goddess was scared than that meant that Sakura didn't stand a chance.

~Finally, throwing her working elbow into Kakuzu's gut, Haruno was given her freedom, scrambling away down the hall as the wonderful sounds of the oncoming aid from her fellow Shinobi became music to her ears. She skid across the marble floor, sure that the evil man was right on her heels. Her body flung itself down another hall, seeing a few scattered members of Kiri. Her heart raced, she would be okay if she made it to them, but then suddenly something snatched her up from behind, two black stringed hands came around her waist and dragged her kicking and screaming to the floor with a loud thud.

~She flailed around furiously, watching and praying the nearby Shinobi would see her and come to her aid. That was when she noticed they had their attention elsewhere, they didn't even acknowledge her presence.

~_"Please!"_ Her mind begged, _"please see me!"_ Then, in a flash of streaking light the small, the four-man group plummeted to the ground, body parts falling from their bodies and blood spattering the walls. They were dead before they even knew what hit them, a shadow crawling across the wall and coming around the corner.

~_"Hidan,"_ Sakura's eyes filled with unwanted tears and the hands around her waist tightened, dragging her back to their master, her echoing cry filling the temple's halls.

* * *

**Naruto Uzumaki Age: 20**

* * *

~Naruto waved his hand in front of Sasuke's eyes, "hey! Teme, what's gotten into you?" He snapped his fingers and looked questioningly at Sai, but the pale artist shrugged unhelpfully.

~The swirling tomoes of Sasuke's Sharingan were unnerving to the two onlookers as they watched the blood red and black colors jerk wildly as if he was in the throes of immeasurable pain. He stood stock still, fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug bloody gashes into the palms of his hands. His mind was a whirling streak of thoughts and affliction, every time the Uchiha fought to come to his senses an inner welling of clawing pain clenched around his mind and heart so tightly he wanted to shout, but his lips were clamped shut.

~_"You can hear me… I know you can hear me_," a voice called melodically, entering Sasuke's mind like a warm breeze in summer. It was soft and gentle, caressing his mortal mind and body in ways no woman had ever been able to reciprocate. He was falling prey to the feelings, his guard swiftly dropping.

~_"I feel the poisoned animal within you,"_ the voice said knowingly, combing Sasuke's consciousness until he found the hiding monster beneath the surface, wiggling and writhing in its fitful sleep. _"It feels your unease and wishes to come out. Why don't you let it? It would be so easy to let go of everything."_

~Sasuke growled and tightly squinted his eyes shut, "no! I can't!"

~"Sasuke? What are you talking about?" Naruto questioned confused, a growing ball of concern forming in the pit of his gut where his Kyuubi instincts were gradually becoming more and more alert.

~A scream echoed through the halls and both Sai and the blonde Dobe turned towards the source of the sound, watching as a strange puppetted creature with flaming red hair ran through an Iwa Kunoichi with a long tonto blade. They took on a defensive stance, Naruto snatching up a kunai while Sai pulled out a rolled scroll and his paintbrush. Behind them, Sasuke unseeingly looked on without a care, his inner demons awakening and fighting to make themselves known. His twisting Sharingan swam with his mind's struggle, aflame with hatred and anguish.

~The black cloaked puppet rose from his knees and looked at the Leaf nins with an eerily calm smile, his eyes flashing amusement amidst the sandy colored backdrop of his irises. He spread open the front of his shroud to reveal his mechanical body, full of poisonous dripping wires that he flung out at his waiting opponents.

~Sai reacted first, his brush depicting a roaring lion that sprang from his parchment scroll and leapt towards the Akatsuki member, its mouth gaping wide and ready to protect its master. The drawing took the poison wire's attack full on, shrieking in what sounded like pain when it was run through without even slowing andcharged on to its intended targets.

~The Dobe leapt back, only barely remembering Sasuke's presence and snatching him up before the metal cable could tear him apart, but the shining object instantly change trajectory, bouncing off the marble ground and using the momentum to rush the unsuspecting Jinchuriki.

~"Naruto!" Sai yelled, forming another jutsu, but it came too late, the pointed end of the metallic claw bit into Sasuke's flesh even as his blonde teammate fought to protect him. A flash of crimson and a sighing cry were the only things that let the conscious members of Team Seven know that Sasuke was transforming.

~The deadly curse mark writhed on the top of the Uchiha's porcelain skin, churning and glowing as it spread across his body, moving as if it had a life of its own. His Sharingan eyes suddenly came open, stretching across his entire optical orb and fading away his black center until all that remained was a blood red glow. Skin, the pale color of barely tanned flesh darkened swiftly, taking on an ashen appearance and his body distorted as inhuman appendages sprouted from his back, taking on the disgusting shape of clawed demon wings.

~Sasuke's overwhelming burst of chakra power threw Naruto from him, tossing the Dobe into a nearby wall. The younger Shinobi slid down slowly, his jelly like legs trembling while the hazing edges of morbid unconsciousness fettered horribly on the rim of his racing thoughts. He looked up just before the darkness closed in and saw his black, chicken-headed friend's hair grow and lengthen, lightening until it took on a ghostly, almost iridescent white.

~The art nin watched in muted horror, his eyes growing wide as he watched this demonic Uchiha get to his unsteady feet and glare daggers down the long hallway at the red-haired Akatsuki member. A smile broke out on Sasuke's onyx-gray lips and he flashed a row of too white fangs that begged for a taste of blood. To end his entirely frightening manifestation, an ebony slashed cross sprang out across the bridge of his nose while obsidian claws like eagle talons dangerously glinted in the light streaming above from the overhead skylight.

~Everything was coming into retrospect for the art nin as he realized the entire temple was suddenly thrust into an uproar. Screams could be heard from everywhere, both male and female, some dying, some crying, a few voices were even gurgling as the torment of death slowly took them over. This wasn't a fight at all, this was a massacring slaughter. The Shinobi and Kunoichis weren't prepared for a fight like this, it didn't matter how many forces there were or how strong many of them had become. Without orders or leadership, every nin here was a mindless moron struggling just to stay alive.

~Without thinking about it, Sai leapt for his fallen comrade, picking up Uzumaki and throwing him over his shoulder. He turned towards Sasuke, ready to attempt to take the man with him, but the demon simply cackled and threw off the artist's reaching hand.

~"Flee, mortal. Your existence is pathetic and I aim to end it," he drew out Kusanagi, the metal singing against the hilt of his sheath. He formed a jutsu flawlessly, blessing the sword's blade with a blast of hot fire, turning the metal neon red as the air around it steamed and whistled. Touching the raging hot weapon to his open wound, he smilingly winced in pain, cauterizing the gash and stopping the bleeding. The scent of burning flesh almost made Sai want to vomit, but he held himself in check and fled down the hall, while Sasuke turned his attention towards the puppet master of the Akatsuki.

~"You would make an interesting new toy," Sasori whispered out, raising his hands up mockingly, invisible strings of chakra aimed and ready for the attack he knew was coming.

~Sasuke charged first, slashing at Sasori's waist, watching the puppet easily maneuver himself away, twisting his inhuman body into a position no man could reproduce. He wouldn't be easy to catch and with these small quarters, the Uchiha knew his power would be halved, even with Kusanagi.

~_"Stop!"_ The breezy voice in his head commanded and the man froze mid attack. He couldn't move, his entire body was under the control of some outside force he knew nothing about. _"What a good pet."_

~"Who the fuck are you?" Sasuke shouted, manically slashing out at nothing and clutching his head in his hands. Pain blossomed throughout his entire skull, forcing him complacent and obedient. Nothing more than a kicked puppy.

~_"Temper, temper, Teme. That's what your friends call you, don't they? Teme? I want to be your friend, Teme."_

~"Shut up!" He screamed, seeing Sasori cock his head to the side. The Akatsuki member watched on in muted silence, wondering what could possibly have driven his prey to insanity, but when the voice of their leader broke into the confines of his mind, he had his answer.

~_"The boy is under my control, finish your mission, Sasori of the Red Sand."_

~Nodding, the stringless marionette spun on heel and blurred off, leaving behind a heavily panting Uchiha, struggling to battle down the screaming inner demons that welled up inside him and threatened to drown out his entire being.

~_"How does it feel to be possessed by a creature?"_ The voice asked, _"you wanted a god inside you, stooping so low as to look for my power absorbing, siren-calling sister. That's not what a real power hungry beast does, especially not one as special as you."_

~"Get out of my head!" Sasuke bellowed, dropping to his knees and slamming his forehead against the ground. He felt his nose break, the blood spraying from a head gash that split his skin and the streaming red essence that gushed from his nose. There was no evading the pain that crackled inside his skull, not even physical pain could obscure his throbbing skull.

~_"Now, now, don't be so hasty. I'll let you go on a rampage soon, I promise. Just do as I tell you,"_ the god's lulling lilt had returned and was gently rubbing the young Shinobi's brain tenderly, forcing a pleasured moan to work its way from Sasuke's throat. He couldn't control any of himself, almost watching from a back row seat in a movie theater while his body moved of someone else's accord.

~"What do you want from me?" The Uchiha begged in defeat when he felt he couldn't fight any longer.

~"_I want my sister. Give me the bitch and her container."_

~The monstrous animal inside Sasuke growled rabidly, his instincts showing through, unmasked without its master's rock solid control to hold it back, _"woman is mine!"_

_~"Yes, the pink haired girl is yours. You may have her when I possess the goddess."_

~Sasuke's demon nodded in agreement, dying to shed some blood, maybe even find his little rosette and force her to bend to his will. It scoffed as his mortal holder screamed and threw himself at prison bars, bellowing obscenities should Sakura be harmed in any way.

~_"Go find her, monster. I will reward you for your trouble."_

~In a flash, Sasuke disappeared, off to search for the object of his new master's attention…

* * *

**Sakura Haruno age: 19**

* * *

~"Let me go!" Sakura demanded, struggling to twist away from Kakuzu's probing tongue that brushed against her earlobe and snaked down her jaw to her collar bone. She could smell his rancid breath, the scent reminding her of the Konoha Hospital's morgue after death and rigor had set in on a fallen foe. She felt her all ready churning gut flop over and without her hand to cover her mouth, the rising bile would spill over her lips if she didn't get away from the stench soon.

~"Please!" She begged, "I'm sick! I'm going to throw up."

~Kakuzu purred disgustingly, nuzzling Sakura's throat, "you'll be fine."

~Her eyes darted about, searching listlessly for something, anything to help her current situation, but with her smashed against a wall, arms held tightly above her head, and a fear for her unborns holding her complacent and still, she didn't think there would be any way out of this situation.

~The stitched man with sickening green eyes ran his fingers up and down the silken skin of his victim, grinning when she shuddered, "I know you're just itching for me to pluck you. But… I'm expensive, how are you going to pay?"

~Ganimaru hissed beneath the surface, her chakra and power warbling even as the power of the black beads rendered her useless, _"fight him, Sakura! If he takes you to Kazechi, he will kill you!"_

~"_But the babies,"_ she whimpered, Kakuzu's hand rubbing the prominent bulge of her distended belly, fascinated with the life hiding underneath.

~_"DO SOMETHING!" _ The goddess' mind racking bellow shook her skull from within and she couldn't help the vomit that finally refused to be held any longer. She puked all over the Akatsuki's shoulder, the man leaping away in disgust, dropping her to the ground.

~"Fucking bitch!" He shouted. In a second, he ripped off his shirt and threw it to the ground, kicking it away like it was acid that burned him, "you're going to pay for that, dammit!"

~Sensing her moment of opportunity, Sakura swiftly made a hand jutsu and in a puff of smoke, she disappeared, leaving behind a cursing marionette man.

~"Sakura!" Tsunade shouted as the girl miraculously appeared by her side. The Kages were jammed in the Inner Sanctum, the doors barred from the inside as something powerful and angry beat against the several foot thick wood. Above them, other Shinobi barred the other doors and waited for the inevitable, whatever it was to be. The sounds of an army battered just beyond.

~The pinkette vomited again, her emergency teleportation jutsu consuming the remaining vestiges of her stomach's iron clad willpower, letting Tsunade's beckoning go unheeded for the moment. The older woman knelt down beside her pupil and patted the girl's shoulder until the disgusting bodily function decided to stop.

~"What's going on out there?" The Hokage asked, helping the medic to her feet.

~"The Akatsuki's here, they're killing everyone," she remembered how Hidan cut down all in his path without regard for their gender, age, or creed, blatantly slicing through one of the child monks running in terror. She had watched in horror as a little seven year old's top half went in one direction while his bottom half slumped to the floor and his brown eyes stared helplessly up at her, never again to see the light of day.

~Sakura's eyes blurred with tears and she looked up pleadingly at her Shishou, "they're murdering everyone! I don't know what to do…"

~"Neither do we," the older woman returned angrily. She scanned the room and saw Yagura standing beside a fallen Kodai, the old ancient's body wheezed and coughed as if he was exerting strength just trying to stay alive. The Raikage stood beside another man of his village, one that closely resembled himself and held an aura of a tailed beast inside him as well, Tsunade was sure the dark skinned younger man was the container to the eight-tailed ox. If this battle got too serious, she might begin suggesting using the Jinchurikis as leverage.

~She returned her gaze back to Sakura, not caring about the others in the room, "what are they after?"

~"Me."

~One of the Kage's heard the low conversation and stepped forward, Onoki furiously spat at the young woman and her sensei, "then let them have you! They're murdering my men!" He was held by Akatsuchi, who stood back, ashen and sad.

~"How can you say that?" Tsunade growled to the old man, stomping to his side and almost smacking him across the face, but her ANBU Captain gripped her hand.

~"Violence amongst ourselves isn't going to solve anything, Hokage."

~Tsunade ripped her hand away and crossed her arms over her chest childishly, as if she were pouting.

~"They killed Kurotsuchi, how many more need to die? Just give them the girl," Akatsuchi mumbled lowly, turning away from the crowd of eyes that glared at him, mostly Yagura and Gaara.

~"He's right," Ae agreed, "sacrifices must be made. If they want the Kunoichi, give her to them. We'll come get her when we form a plan and regroup."

~Feeling herself being cornered, Sakura backed up a step. They couldn't come get her if she was dead, that was what was going to happen to her if they let her go, she only prayed Tsunade wouldn't let them take her.

~She saw Yagura's angry expression, his short stature seething with swirling chakra from his tailed beast, "how can you just throw someone to the wolves like that!" He was almost hissing, the sound of his demon showing through and Sakura inched closer to the man, looking at him in a new light.

~"What other options do we have?" Ae asked sternly, "look at us, we're five kages, a few ANBU, a couple old has beens, a pregnant Kunoichi, some Jinchurikis and a rag tag group of other useless ninja. If they get in here, they'll kill us all and still take her. We need to regroup and plan."

~A hand reached out and touched Sakura's shoulder, startling the young ninette until her emerald eyes met with hardened jade. Gaara gently pushed her behind him, protecting her while Kankuro took on a similar stance beside his brother, neither of them were going to allow anyone to harm Sakura. She looked on at them shocked, but infinitely grateful for their collective defense, even Granny Chiyo beside her nodded knowingly, as if she too would protect the Kunoichi. It was all too much and her thoughts whizzed alive as she considered the words of the Kages carefully.

~_"The Raikage is right, Ganimaru,"_ Sakura murmured to the goddess, _"I don't want any more people to die, maybe I should let them take me."_

~"_Are you a moron? Kazechi will kill you, he'll extract me and you'll die. Sakura I'm embedded into your soul now, molded too deeply to just be yanked out like a cork. If I go, you and your nameless sons will perish."_

~Tsunade and Kakashi looked as if they were going to start a fight, Onoki and Ae giving them the same heated looks, the very air within the Inner Sanctum crackled and everyone felt the thickness of it.

~"Gani…maru," Master Kodai called, freezing everyone in their tracks. The ancient had been wordless after staving off a horde of clay zombies and the Akatsuki member Deidara when the attack began, his chakra now sat throbbing on near empty as his life force fought to survive.

~The container darted passed Gaara and Kankuro without another thought, skidding to a stop beside Yagura and her goddess' lover. She knelt down beside him and touched his chest gently, a kind of love flashing in her eyes for the man from the being hiding inside.

~"Those beads," he coughed out, a spray of blood bubbled up from his collapsing lungs. He reached up to her, lovingly yanking on a curly pink lock and grabbing the confining jewelry to remove its chakra containing presence in one motion, "they're not becoming on you."

~As the necklace fell away to the floor, Ganimaru's overwhelming aura bolted alive, filling the room almost beyond capacity with her chakra. She swam to the forefront of Sakura's mind and took over the Kunoichi without permission, falling into the old man's grasp as she began to cry.

~"I didn't notice. I'm so sorry," Ganimaru whimpered, "please don't die."

~Without realizing it, the goddess had allowed herself to sap away her lover's chakra, their mental connection bridging the gap between their distanced bodies. Slowly, but surely, every ounce of the man, over the past few months, had begun to wither as the flame of his beautiful goddess began to burn brighter. She was snuffing him out, a horrifying realization to the water witch as she suddenly grasped at her new container.

~_"He's dying?"_ Sakura breathed out in shock, shying away from Ganimaru's consciousness, her primordial power and anger was coming to a simmering boiling point.

~_"He's all ready dead. His body just hasn't caught up to that fact yet."_

~Master Kodai smiled gently, brushing a few stray locks of hair from Sakura's eyes, "I can't stay. I'm too old for this, Maru. It's no longer _our_ fight."

~The goddess surprised herself when she began to sob even amidst her smoldering fury, picking up the white haired ancient's head and laying it in her lap. Her fingers touched his chilled cheek, frowning when she knew his life essence and warmth was swiftly leaving him, soon he would be gone.

~"Please. I… _need…_ you." The goddess pursed her lips together, never in her entire life had she ever thought she would say these words, not to anyone, especially not her eternal jailor through the length of her immortal existence. But over the centuries she had come to the realization that this man's presence, his very existence was what allowed her to reign in her overwhelming power and strength. He was the pillar of her entire being.

~"We'll meet again. When we fade we all go back to Kami, let me go, Hibiki*." The soft whisper of her age-old nickname pierced her heart as his sightless eyes focused entirely on his lovely goddess, shattering her soul with their ardoring intensity. He truly loved his immortal woman, Sakura could see that, could feel it, could sense it in the very shimmering air around them. A twinge of jealousy pricked her psyche, wanting to feel the same love from someone else, but as soon as it came it disappeared. She would have it one day, someone who cherished her as much as Kodai cherished Ganimaru, there was no sense in ruining the two's moment.

~"No!" The water witch cried out selfishly, "I want to be with you. I want to always be with you, like when we were young."

~"And stupid?" The Mist monk murmured, his life fading fast, "no.—" He touched her cheek and brushed away the rushing tears, "—I much like you better now. You're so beautiful."

~Ganimaru shortly chuckled through an emotional intake of air, "stupid old man."

~"…Wench."

~"Fossil."

~"…My… love," he was fading fast, pain ricocheting through his body like a tidal waving tempest, readily engulfing him until he could barely breathe.

~Ganimaru laid her forehead against her lover's, peering into his eyes, "my heart and soul. Go, I don't want you suffering for me." She tried to put on a brave face for him, but they both knew better. Inside she was breaking apart at the seams. Her endless surges of might pulsed in every atom of the room, microscopic explosions sparking throughout the breathing space.

~"Thank… you… my goddess," he sighed softly and his lids sluggishly came closed. He took one breath… two breaths, gradually it became more and more shallow, until finally his chest faltered and came to a dismal stop.

~Everyone who watched on in muted fascination, let out their held breaths, feeling the heaviness of the room all around them clench tightly around their hearts.

~Sakura's hair covered her green-gold irises, the tears falling silently down her cheeks and dropping onto the lifeless man in front of her with a low plopping sound. Her insides churned, emotions ripping themselves asunder until Ganimaru snapped. A gold chakra signature swirled all around the pinkette Kunoichi, throbbing off her in angry waves.

~She carefully laid the passed on ancient's head onto the marble floor, rising to her feet and turning to face the gawking others, her expression still hidden behind a veil of sakura blossom tinged locks. The golden pulses of chakra reached out calmly, throughout the room like searching hands, touching everything, grasping at the lives still among the living.

~_"Can't feel mate…"_ Ganimaru's deep warble came bubbling up through Sakura's vocal chords, sounding almost animalistic, more instinct than goddess. _"Mate… dead."_ It was a lethal tone and everyone knew it.

~"Sakura?" Tsunade whispered, raising a hand to her pupil and taking a precarious, unsteady step towards her medic.

~"Don't!" Kakashi ordered harshly, snatching at his Hokage's shoulder, painfully digging his fingers into the tender skin, "this isn't Sakura right now. She's completely the goddess."

~"Like Naruto and the Kyuubi?" Tsunade asked with a gasp, looking to her ANBU captain.

~Something rammed against the bolted doors and everyone's attention drew away from the churning goddess towards the shuddering doorway. They all waited with baited breath, watching the wood shake and begin to splinter under some powerful force.

~"Come out, yeah! I only want to practice my art!" Deidara was screaming through the locks, sending his surging clay army against the barrier, triumphantly cheering as the door shrieked in defiance, even as it broke apart, piece by agonizing piece.

~"He's getting in, sir!" A Cloud Shinobi cried out, he fought to brace the door with the remaining vestiges of furniture littering the room, others joining in on the struggle, but everyone knew it wouldn't be long before the blonde Akatsuki member tore down their only defense.

~Ae threw a grave look to Tsunade, the woman narrowing her honey pot colored eyes at the Raikage angrily, "I will not throw my best medic to the wolves!"

~"Your stupidity will get us all killed!" Onoki yelled back.

~"You must have gone senile in your old age, you old fart!" Konkuro had now joined the mudslinging, even as his younger brother tossed him a warning glance, it helped little to calm the puppeteer.

~_"SILENCE!"_ Ganimaru bellowed, shaking the entire room to its foundation. Everyone clamped their mouths shut, turning to watch as the glowing, golden specter floated across the marble floor, her hair defying gravity as it swirled and twisted around her head and face. She lifted her hand to the door and the others watched in horror when she formed an ancient jutsu, a loud boom of energy formed in the center of her palm and shot across the room. Their only blockade was blown to smithereens, the smoke slowly beginning to clear as a shadow drew to its full height and gaited over the rubble.

~"Decided to let me in, yeah? You guys are making it so easy, yeah!" Deidara sniggered happily, his monstrous, deformed army surging forward to kill their opponents.

~"She's killed us all," some random Stone nin whimpered out and dove for cover when a bomb went off in his direction.

~Deidara opened his charred black robe, spreading his arms wide to throw an array of different sized bombs in every direction, laughing hysterically as the first wave went off and threw the world into confusion and chaos.

~Kakashi dragged Tsunade to safety, even as the woman screeched that Sakura was in danger, but her voice was cut off swiftly when another deafening explosion went off overhead. She ducked in cover as debris came screaming passed her ear, its singing heat almost burning her face, though her ANBU captain shielded her diligently with his body.

~"Get off me!" Tsunade yelped, struggling to find Sakura within the frenzied bedlam. Everything had gone silent in her ears, the booming detonation had left her mostly deaf while the ringing gonged loud in her brain. She caught a flash of gold and pink, seeing the young woman standing amidst the dizzying blasts. A terracotta soldier came racing at the medic's front, leaving the Hokage shrieking for the girl to notice and to her relief the enraged pinkette batted away the nuisance without effort, ignoring the explosion that went off beside her.

~The other Kages were shielded by their respective others, though Yagura tightly clasped his arms around the young girl with similar eyes to his own, while Gaara shielded his men and family from the unending blasts with wave after wave of Shukaku's sand.

~Master Kodai's body was thrown lifelessly across the room, slamming against an opposite wall and Ganimaru watched in sickened horror as her shell of a mate was twisted into an unnatural position on the dusty ground. Something inside her wrenched violently, the ticking rage within her had reached its boiling point and she narrowed her now gold irises on the laughing Akatsuki member in her sights.

~Without warning Deidara was smashed through a nearby wall, a bone jarring concussion screaming in his head as he struggled in vain to stand. His eyes sluggishly darted about, fighting to find the source of his discomfort, but his vision danced around in blurring images, light and color all running together into one mass blob.

~The blonde fell to his knees, his slurping hands coughing and gagging audibly while they too tried to catch their runaway bearings. He growled out angrily, forming a wet gob of clay into his right hand, hoping for his assailant to come a little bit closer.

~Ganimaru slowly put one foot in front of the other, walking ever closer to her prey, reaching down and swiftly snatching up the nape of the boy's neck. She shook him violently, giddy with pleasure when Deidara's eyes rolled into the back of his head. She hardly took notice of his hand slamming into her face until the clay detonated and threw her precarious body out of the Inner Sanctum and into the stone hallway.

~"That hurt, bitch!" Deidara was already stalking towards the limp goddess, readying another barrage of chakra infused mud without hesitation, even as his head roared inside his skull. He could hear the chaos of screaming bodies behind him and knew his soldier creations would easily do away with the others in the room, leaving him able to rid himself of this annoyance.

~He was on top of her before Sakura's possessed body could react, her eyes taking in the small grayish colored object flying at her face just as it blew itself up and fiery shards of glass sharp remains gleamed in the light.

~It would have killed a normal Kunoichi, or in the very least maimed her for life, but Sakura was not the average ninja. She had been possessed by a vengeful goddess, trained in the art of the Shinobi, and was as stubborn as a mule, all traits that forced her capable in the most lethal situations. Nothing could harm her if she didn't want it to and leaping with cat-like dexterity, Ganimaru dodged the debris pieces with graceful ease, her body's outline blurring with speed.

~Deidara's eyes widened in shock, he knew his attack should killed the woman. She shouldn't have stood a chance, but as his clay shards imbedded themselves in the opposite wall, the explosions expert of _Daybreak_ for once in his life, seriously doubted his abilities. Even if the thought only remained for a split second, it was the needed moment for Ganimaru to launch her attack.

~Her fingers flew into a long series of jutsu movements, accompanied by rhythmic dance motions the likes of which hadn't been seen in a near millennia. A powerful surge of chakra rushed to the surface of its master's body, expanding and writhing with a life of its own. The air around them grew thick with humidity and an odd chill Deidara wasn't accustomed to, he exhaled sharply and saw his breath, the curling moisture pranced between the two ninja bodies, one motionless in shock while the other continued to dance and move. She was lost in the tainting veil of her emotions, taken over by foreboding depression and never-ending sadness, nothing meant anything to her any longer.

~A shape formed in the air, at first only the light outline of floating water, but as the lines thickened and Ganimaru's magic took shape, the on looking Akatsuki member remained frozen to his spot by the overwhelming might the goddess exuded. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He could create works of art with his own hands, large and small clay creatures that could decimate people without lifting even a finger, but here this goddess possessed Kunoichi was transforming the very water in the air into something… not of this world.

~A water dragon writhed and hissed in mid air, his long white water whiskers rolling in some unfelt wind as his long, slender body slowly formed all around his charge. Eyes the color of storm clouds locked quickly on their destined prey and without a second's hesitation, Ganimaru raised her shaking fingers towards the planted Akatsuki member, wordlessly commanding her most powerful jutsu to do her bidding.

~With a deafening roar, the water dragon rushed a head, slithering away from his goddess as blurring speeds, his claws extended with lethal sharpness. He slashed vertical, aiming to tear Deidara in half, but having finally gained his head about him, the blonde rolled aside, narrowing missed by the rending talons.

~"That was close, yeah," he murmured to himself, watching in near slow motion as the dragon's unmatched strength came crashing through the marble flooring and ripped apart the stony material without a flit of effort. Those predatory eyes focused back on the clay Shinobi, hissing loud and charging for him as Ganimaru stood back and watched. She was smiling unnervingly, a glint of maniacal insanity twitching behind her stolen irises.

~Deidara leapt away from his enemy's constant onslaught, calling back his clay minions from the room of the Kages in an attempt to save himself. He watched the slow moving monsters come swaying and running towards the dragon, completely bypassing the now hysterically laughing goddess. Her presence wasn't a threat to their master's, she was simply an afterthought to the mindless creatures as they latched onto the chakra serpent and each in unison, the clay cretins exploded.

~Blood and flesh and bone flew in all directions, spattering the walls of the temple in the gory wake of the torn apart reptile that had only just moments ago adorned the hallway with its magnificent grace and glory. All that remained behind was a mass of bubbly flesh that sizzled and burned the ground, charring the floor with its acidic blood.

~"That was too easy, yeah!" The blonde cheered for himself and ripped off his black cloak, throwing the shredded material away as he brought his hands together and cracked the knuckles. It was time to get down to business, he knew he had to bring this pink haired Kunoichi back to his leader, knew that if she was anything less than alive his ass was grass. Though, no one said he couldn't mess her up a little bit before and show her just how much of an explosion his art really was.

~He blurred forward, disappearing from view for only a second, before appearing directly in front of the crazed ancient, her glowing golden eyes swimming in the insanity of her swiftly breaking mind. She didn't even stop to look at the man before her, didn't try to defend herself when he aimed a punch right at her face.

~There was a split second when Deidara thought to himself, that subduing a demonic creature of the ageless scriptures, was easy. The thought died when he suddenly realized that the arm he had used for his brutal assault never seemed to make it to Sakura's still cackling face, in an instant the man's left arm was gone… not just broken or moved, it was gone… eaten.

~At first the pain didn't kick in until Deidara saw the blood, didn't realize he was screaming until the Kunoichi's glowing, porcelain features came into view. She wasn't laughing anymore, although the sound would have been lost on him anyway, the only thing he could hear was the ringing of his own blood curdling shrieks of pain.

~"_You should have run when you have the chance, boy,"_ Ganimaru warned, watching as the partially deformed head of her water dragon munched light-heartedly on the blonde's left arm, a near smile adorning his toothy, skeletal features. As the time ticked slowly by and the Akatsuki member writhed around on the floor in agony, holding his bloodied stump, fighting unconsciousness, the dragon's body knit itself back together. Blood and bone bubbled disgustingly, absorbing into itself and molding every sinewy piece back to its original form. A haphazardly strewn reptilian arm sat down the hall, a piece of the dragon's liver wiggled its way back into the monster's body, all the while Deidara cried and pleaded like some screeching, dying animal, childishly moaning in his increasing delirium over a mother long since deceased and in the past.

~Poison from the demon's bite sent scourging waves of radiating heat and anguish torturously coursing through the slightly older man's body, ripping apart his muscles and breaking down the sinew. At this rate, without the proper antidote, Deidara would perish in volcanic fever, clutching to himself in tears, begging for his mother and almost pissing himself in fear.

~"_Make it stop!"_ He cried out, twisting on the ground, one of his main arteries pumping out blood faster than he could stop it. In the back of his logical thinking brain, the one barely hanging on by a thread of sanity amidst the shrieking madness of his torture, he knew he only had a few agonizing hours remaining to live if the poison was to be his cause of death, though one look at Sakura told him he would be dying much sooner. His other hand gurgled lowly and tried to form a special jutsu, but a slender hand snatched up the mouthed appendage and crushed her thumb into its mouth.

~The fanged hole gagged at the added pressure, trying in vain to gnaw the Kunoichi's phalanges off and behind her grinned a fully formed _terror_ only Deidara's nightmares could manage to muster up. The dragon was still hungry.

~"_I should kill you now_," the goddess murmured, purring softly into the boy's ear. He still blubbered loudly, cracking his face against the debris covered ground, the clicking of his eye-scope distinctly tinkling from the blows.

~At her words, Deidara froze, looking up with a terrified expression and he saw only malicious intent hiding there. He would be given no quarter, that much he knew. Not from the haunted water wench.

~"_Time to put the mutt out of its misery,"_ she informed lowly, the blonde's eyes widening and he tried to roll away, but the ancient held on tighter, digging her enlarged talons directly inside his hand-mouth's throat. It gagged, trying with everything it had to bite her, though it did nothing.

~Ganimaru reached inside Sakura's side pouch and easily wrapped her fingers around a poison capsule, one of the few things the Kunoichi had been able to sneak in under the guise of medicine. The goddess pulled it out and chewed off the jelly-like top, spitting the remnants from between her tightly clenched teeth. She held the boy down with her heeled sandal and knelt over just enough to touch her thumb to Deidara's chin.

~"_Open wide and take your medicine, whelp."_

"No!" He screamed and fought valiantly, all in vain. The struggle seemed to resemble a cornered animal more than a human fighting for his life, if Ganimaru had been a more merciful creature, she might have allowed him to go, but grinning like some Cheshire Cat the ancient aimed the capsule into the man's mouth and let it fly.

~"Not so fast," a voice hushed, a chakra-laden string sparkled suddenly in the light and the poison holder went catapulting across the hall, spilling its highly deadly contents all over the floor.

~"_DAMMIT!"_ Ganimaru roared and spun to face a red-headed monster she had seen once before. _"All these FUCKING interruptions!"_ She snapped her fingers, the sound echoing in the hall and her dragon protector shrieked passed her in a wave of rolling wind and mist. It charged the new Akatsuki member that the goddess had placed as Sasori, leaping back with Deidara still in her clutches while she debated on her next move.

~"_Gani… maru,"_ Sakura's low mindful voice squeaked out, coming into consciousness slowly, but surely. She quickly ascertained the damage around her, struggling to decipher what was going on, although she only was able to take in the two Akatsuki members and a silver-blue dragon trying unsuccessfully to _eat_ the puppet master.

~_"You're awake," _the goddess muttered, her eyes glaring lethal daggers into her thrashing prisoner's hide. "_Stop moving, plebe."_ At first Deidara ignored the woman's order, but when she dug her foot into his shrieking shoulder he went completely limp.

~"No more boom," he whispered to himself, holding his blood slickened stump as tightly as he could muster, his heated fever brought on mirages from the past he didn't want to see. His eyes glazed over briefly, mind falling back into the darker recesses where he couldn't feel any more pain. Memories of things he'd seen in his twenty-two years of life bombarded him without permission and he saw everything flash before his eyes.

~He remembered his mother, a pretty woman with a sad smile brought on by years of neglect from an abusive husband that wasn't her only son's father. The young boy had never known his father, didn't have a picture, didn't even know his name.

~His mother had been weak then, a frail woman without a backbone or strand of courage. Many times she had fallen prey to her husband's drunk abuses, crying until she had no more tears to shed. It was then that Deidara remembered that the violent streak in him began.

~There was a short time after Deidara murdered his step-father that things seemed to calm in the young boy's world, the_ accident_ having been blamed on the deadliness of the older man's Explosion Corps techniques, which at the time, were dangerous under the wrong conditions. His mother didn't look for another husband after that, and the young blonde boy had found shreds of happiness in working with clay and mud. It was on one of his more hapless escapades to retrieve more of his art supplies that the Kage of Stone Village happened across him, from then on Deidara was under the Tsuchikage's tutelage, even though the boy didn't want to be.

~Tsuchikage Onoki had always been short, leading to many annoying comments from the older man's student. At first, the jesting between pupil and sensei were angry jibes, fighting to rib each other in the most fruitless of ways, but as the connection between the two grew, their joking seemed to become more light-hearted and friendly.

~Onoki taught while Deidara learned. He had been the perfect student… until his mother committed suicide, leaving the boy all alone in the harsh reality of innocence taken too young. The young blonde had only been ten when his only remaining parent hung herself in her son's bedroom, a note tact to his door about being a good boy and never hurting anyone _ever_ again. The sight only served to crack Deidara's mind more and throw him into an unending pit of inescapable tar. No matter how much he struggled or how hard he fought, he only buried himself deeper into the blackness… finally, it swallowed him whole and he went mad.

~Never in his entire existence had Deidara ever wanted to steal anything from his sensei's private library, all he had to do was ask and Onoki would have given it, even the forbidden Kinjutsu, _Exploding Clay_… All he had to do was ask… He should've just asked…

~After running from his village and joining the ranks of a missing-nin, Deidara spent a few years trying to make a name for himself amidst the outcasts and terrorist groups, those flashing memories whizzed by his head and logged themselves among the more useless information. He hadn't paid enough attention to his rouge years to remember much, except for maybe a pretty brunette he met in a small village on the outskirts of Waterfall, she was dead now though and the blonde's thoughts continued to barrage him.

~Being called upon by the Akatsuki should have been an honor to someone like Deidara, not many people were allowed into the organization of high-class crime, but he had refused under his own better judgment, though Itachi, the silent prick, as Deidara would _lovingly_ address the man later as, made quick work of dispatching any free will the then eighteen-year old could possibly have fought with. He hated that damn Uchiha, prayed the man would finally go blind once and for all, then he really wouldn't be able to turn that stupid eye jutsu on him ever again. If he could just perfect his C4 jutsu technique, he could've finally shown that arrogant, egotistical airhead what it meant to cross the great explosions expert.

~Missions; always constant missions, one right after the other in an infinite cycle of ridiculous capturing, losing, and recapturing things lost, found, ancient, and new. Arguments; the never-ending arguments about art and what was better, something immortalized in a second or left to rot forever as a statue. Fuck Sasori and his asshole way of making him feel like he was lower than dirt, fuck their high and mighty ancient leader who only degraded him for being a kid, fuck the Akatsuki and whatever ridiculous standards they _prided_ themselves on striving for. If Itachi could leave without notice, then so could he, there might even be enough left in him to go out with a _bang_. If he couldn't leave the Akatsuki, if here was to be his last moments, he wanted to end in the flash of that one beautiful, artful moment.

~Deidara glanced up at the entranced goddess, startled by how well the puppet master was able to keep up with her ageless protector. They battled tit-for-tat, the dragon's bulk slowing him down while Sasori's smaller stature couldn't put a dent in his enemies six-inch thick hide.

~"I don't want to die yet, yeah," the blonde said suddenly, capturing Ganimaru's undivided attention. Her green-gold eyes focused on him with a mixture of malice and disbelief, he could beg all he wanted though it wouldn't be enough to appease her blood lust.

~Wrenching his arm up, the pink haired, possessed Kunoichi raised the Akatsuki member eye-level and pierced his soul with her gaze, _"you don't deserve your life."_ She made filled her free arm with chakra, glad for once in her existence to have chosen well a ninja that could pack a well-devised, powerhouse punch. One hit and the missing-nin would be worm food.

~_"STOP!"_

~Sakura screeched in-tune with another voice, a deeper, more aged tone and Ganimaru shifted her stare up to see the Hidden Stone's Tsuchikage, Onoki battling his way through the horde of exploding clay soldiers and puppet monsters brought about by Sasori.

~"Let him go," Onoki ordered sternly, although a touch of regretful sadness swam around in his hardened gaze, "don't hurt him… anymore."

~Sakura battled for control inside her own head, her mental capacity smashing wit for wit against the much more ancient being that was unable to defend herself. _"Get back!_" The pinkette shrieked and took a taloned grip on Ganimaru's consciousness, ripping her to the foreground of the Kunoichi's mind. Her body writhed and twisted, smacking hard against the marble walls, engraved with antique writings too old to be translated.

~_"No!"_ The water wench bellowed out, mentally grasping at straws for control of her container's body, but Sakura caged the beast with a final surge of stolen chakra, locking the hissing hell harpy in until she could behave herself._ "For Kodai! I want revenge!"_

~The pinkette fell to her knees beside Deidara, the young blonde watching in muted horror as the golden glow that radiated in and throughout her body slowly dissipated, melting away into nothing. Her chest heaved from the effort and mental drain of cornering a raging goddess, but quickly caught her wits about her, giving an odd look to the shaking Akatsuki member.

~"I suppose I should stop the bleeding and poison before you die, right?" She whispered and for once Deidara stared at her with an almost a grateful look, throwing himself into her lap without regard for her rampage on his clay soldiers only minutes ago. It was strange to say the least, but without a word, Sakura touched her hands to the crusty, slick stump, pushing a small load of light green chakra into her hands and singeing off the blood pumping veins of her enemy's arm.

~Onoki sat beside his pupil, watching in shocked awe as the woman's graceful fingers danced across the young man's wound, finally satisfied when at length all that was left was the shoulder joint still glaring white against a backdrop of muscle, tissue, and red. He nodded gratefully to Sakura and cleared his throat, "thank… you. I'm sorry about what I said before, about-"

~"Don't apologize, I won't forgive you," Sakura pulled a long tourniquet from her pouch, listening on as the water dragon ate another faceless puppet and beat the puppeteer back down a separate hallway. For now, the three were safe and as soon as she could wrap Deidara's wound and assess his tonic, she could go check on Tsunade and the others.

~Naruto slowly gained consciousness when someone prodded him in the ribs a few times, a screaming headache pounded through his temples, but he ignored it and looked up at a creepily smiling Sai who was hovered by the beautiful pink locks of his lovely teammate.

~"S…Sa… Sakura," he murmured out with effort and tried to move.

~"Idiot!" The medic growled, holding a hand to his chest and forcing him still, "you have a concussion, moron. If you stand up, you're liable to have a head rush and go crashing into another wall. And like I need that kind of work right now."

~The blonde smiled stunningly and flung his arms around his teammate happily, "I'm so glad you're all right, Sakura. I was worried." He saw her cock her head to the side and felt the pinch to his cheek before his eyes registered the movement.

~"Baka!" She hissed, fighting to push Naruto away before he decided he had to kiss her to make sure she was_ completely_ all right. "Stop being stupid, we have to find Sasuke."

~Sai's face fell and he glanced away from his friends, "the Uchiha," he started, "he's… not normal. Something happened when I was dragging dickless away and he turned into some kind of demon. He's gone crazy and now he's hunting for something."

~_"For you,"_ Ganimaru purred from behind her gilded cage. _"Kazechi finally ate the boy's mind restraints away. I knew the boy was rotten to the core."_

~"He's not rotten," Sakura defended, causing Naruto and Sai to glance at her curiously. When she didn't give them an answer, they both assumed it was the water demon needling her from the inside and left it at that.

~"Where are we?" Naruto asked, giving his surroundings the once over and saw a good group of people he knew well. "Baba!" He yelled rudely, causing the Hokage to flinch in her medical duties and glare daggers at the Jinchuriki.

~"If you have time to talk, Naruto," the woman spat out, "then you have time to help me with the wounded."

~"But, Sakura said-"

~"I don't care what Sakura said! Get off your ass and help me!" The woman didn't even glance back to see her Kage-in-training go flying off his duff and sprint across the room without a thought as to what he was doing.

~Sai merely smiled eerily and turned to help give water to an ailing Stone Village Shinobi who was bandaged from head to toe, struggling fruitlessly to hold a ceramic mug. The battle had been difficult, that much was true. Whatever this _thing_ was; a battle, a skirmish, a massacre, they had been wholly unprepared for it and it had cost them dearly. The information that came trickling in from all angles wasn't good, with most of the casualties in Stone and Cloud, Sai had a deep down gut feeling that both nations were holding Leaf responsible in some way.

~The damage done from the Akatsuki had taken its toll on the temple, as nearly half of the enormous building had been wiped clean off the face of the mountain and with it, almost three quarters of the monk populace who had all been gathered in prayer when the Akatsuki members, Hidan and Kakuzu ripped the mass apart. Many children and adults alike had been murdered in cold blood, while Shinobi on all sides fought valiantly to help, but fell at the hands of those much stronger than themselves.

~Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori, Deidara, Konan, and Kisame had been chosen to lead an attack, all of which, save Deidara and Kisame, had been driven back from the mountain, though not without a share of casualties and injuries on both sides. Konan, a silent, lethal beauty with purple hair and piercing gray eyes had received the worst of the injuries and Kakuzu had to drag her off with Hidan clutching to a few severed body parts. Sasori had been depleted of several human puppets and cursing madly about his ruined artwork, he fled before Ganimaru's dragoon shield decided to swallow him whole. The lazy reptile was now hovering around the building, sniffing out other disturbances and keeping watch over the Akatsuki's famous _Shark Tooth_ Shinobi, as of yet Sakura hadn't been able to make the scaled cold-blood leave.

~In the aftermath of the fight, it was discovered that several things were amiss, one of which was that the Fire Country's Itamihi scroll, which of course threw Lady Tsunade into a tizzy fit as she tore the entire temple apart in her over exuberant search for something that had been stolen. The guards stationed at the scroll's chest had been dispatched just like the ones back in Konoha's prison, leading to some severe questioning to Itachi when he had been discovered dragging an unconscious Kisame through the corridors. All of which had been answered with a steady, ever-unwavering _'no'_ and when Kakashi deemed the Uchiha to be telling the truth, the younger Shinobi was allowed to go about his business. The next thing missing was the green-headed god Horachikyu, who surprisingly enough had disappeared shortly after the confrontation between Sakura and himself, leaving most everyone that knew of him in a quiet trance while they wondered the worst.

~"I'm going to go get some more rags and water, Lady Tsunade," Sakura said darkly, climbing to her feet and darting off around a corner. She hastened to the cafeteria area, hoping to catch one of the monks there in her quest for clean bandages and a fresh pot of cleansing water, but as she turned the last bend towards her destination, a hand flung out and grabbed her tightly, dragging her into the shadows.

~At first she fought, throwing an elbow into her captor's gut, her ceramic pot clattering to the floor and shattering upon contact. It wasn't until a familiar scent and a soft, masculine voice breathed into her ear that she calmed herself.

~"Sakura," Sasuke whispered, his breath hot and heavy on the pulsing vein in her neck. It elicited a delicious shiver that raced up her spine and caused the Uchiha to hug himself closer from behind, crushing his hips into her supple ass.

~"What are you doing?" She gaped, her hands flying to his own that encircled her waist, "everyone's out looking for you! We thought you got into trouble."

~"Sakura…" His tone sounded needy and strange, almost border lining eerie.

~The pinkette tsked aloud and pushed his hands away, whirling in his arms to face him. Of all the things she had been prepared to see, this strange, demonic form wasn't one of them. Her forest green irises widened in fright, staring hard into a jet stream of glowing red that swirled and trapped her motionless.

~"Sakura," he murmured softly again, "is mine!" His too white fangs flashed in the low light and he slammed a rock hard fist into the Kunoichi's gut, watching in slow motion as all the air was violently yanked from her lungs. Unconsciousness swam around in her eyes for a split second, her mind a whirl of thoughts.

~As Sakura fell, all she thought about was her sons, praying to Kami that Sasuke had missed them and that they would be fine, but something inside her head clicked loudly. The pessimist in her noted that she was suddenly in a world of pain, and something wet had begun trickling between her legs. After that, all she knew was darkness…

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**Author's Note:** Again, sorry if the chapter is exceedingly rough. It's 12AM and I'm going to bed, I'll correct the chapter tomorrow for errors, spelling mistakes, grammatical mishaps and what not. R&R

What I would like to point out to those of you who actually pay attention to my author's notes, is that this fiction is only about 3 to 4 chapters out and will be completed. I'm stretching the chapters to include most of my ending ties to end this fiction faster, not that I don't like it. But I think a year on a fiction is long enough and I have other fictions to work on.

**BUT! I was wondering, for those of you who have kept going along side me all this time and have been my avid, wonderful readers. I was wondering… go onto my profile and pick through the fiction ideas I have there and pick one of your favorites. I will begin writing my next fiction in dedication to you and have it be my next project. To be this happy picked person, all I need from you is reviews! Good, bad, what have you, just go through my stories, pick which one you want to have go next, review it to me and tell me what you think of this chapter and the chapters to come and from those reviews I'll pick the one who is most helpful/avid/most reviewed/ect. Hope this gives you all something to look forward to! TY!**


	29. Heaven, Earth, and Hell

Author's Note – I am Hellbent on finishing this story before the end of the month((August))… Kami, give me strength on those sleepless nights x.x

_Thank you!_ This chapter is dedicated to...

MadGirl03 - Her awesome comment for last chapter was the driving force that allowed me to keep writing. I'm sorry Girl that I didn't respond to it in a timely manner, I hope this makes up for it!

SixMagnitudeGirl - You are always there, EVERY chapter. You are a faithful follower and for that I am so very, very grateful!

. - You are another faithful follower and I am glad to be able to have you!

UchihaMizore - You've been with me for a LONG time, spanning the long months and months of no writing and yet you stick by and listen to my story ideas. Thank you sweetie, I enjoy our talks!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

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Disclaimer: Some guy sitting high on the hog owns Naruto and Naruto Shippuden… The asshole doesn't believe in SasuSaku either so I'm mad at him… x.x

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**Chapter 29  
Heaven, Earth, and Hell**

"_Prison gates won't open up for me  
On these hands and knees I'm crawlin'…  
..Well I'm terrified of these four walls  
These iron bars can't hold my soul in  
All I need is you  
Come please I'm callin'  
And oh I scream for you…  
…Show me what it's like  
To be the last one standing  
And teach me wrong from right  
And I'll show you what I can be…  
…And I'll leave this life behind me  
Say it if it's worth saving me  
Heaven's gates won't open up for me  
With these broken wings I'm fallin'…  
…These city walls ain't got no love for me  
I'm on the ledge of the eighteenth story…  
Come please I'm callin'  
And all I need from you  
Hurry I'm fallin', I'm fallin'…_

_Nickelback – Savin' Me (Some lines taken out)_

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**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20 (Inside his mind)**

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_~Forgive me, Sakura. As hard as I've tried to beat back the demons I fought so hard to obtain, I'm just not strong enough. Leaving Konoha to chase after a useless pipedream of strength I had disillusioned myself into believing would help me defeat my brother, means little now. Things have gotten out of my control; words said I don't mean, actions taken that should never have been done. _

_~I stare out through a sheet of onyx glass and I see myself hurting you. My words are too harsh, my cruel way of dealing with you is beyond reproach, and all I can do is sit here and watch you cry. Your tears all by themselves tear me apart from the inside out, leaving me a soulless shell of my former glory._

_~When we were young, after my eyes had been clouded by sadness, regret, pain, and loss, I never seemed to notice you, even though you fought hard to grasp my attention. As we grew older something about me changed. I matured some, grew up a little, and even felt things churning inside me I had never known before to exist. It was something I was caught completely off guard by, and before I could let it flourish, I had squashed it under the blanketed guise of self-preservation._

_~You were a pretty girl, grown into a beautiful Genin and I was allowed to watch you from a close vantage point, enough to grow something akin to attachment to you and even to that stupid blonde Dobe. Though I'm not proud of the way I constantly pushed you and your feelings away, or tried to hurt you. In my own mind I thought I was protecting you. You were just so innocent and I couldn't see you changed by my blackened taint. For my own sanity, I needed you to stay the same smiling thirteen-year I had grown accustomed to seeing every morning on that bridge waiting for Kakashi-sensei._

_~The night I had made up my mind to leave Konoha behind was one of the hardest things I had ever forced myself to do, mainly because it was your smile I had come to need to get through my days and without it I knew I would go crazy. That walk to the village gates was one of the longest, most agonizing things I've ever done, even as I am now with all my grueling training and mangled scars, leaving you behind on that bench while you cried tears for **me** hurt more than anything else I have ever done._

_~I'm sorry, Sakura… I don't deserve your love, but I don't know if the monster in me will allow someone else to have you, that thought alone burns a hole like black hellfire through my very being. Someone else touching you, making you smile, raising my sons... it all makes this disgusting heart of mine try to burst out of my chest and the fiend in me coils tighter around my soul, pulling back the sanity and forcing up the madness. I'm being swallowed by the way I feel. I think I love you, if this is what it feels like, but I can't cage the beast any longer. Before long, it __**will**__ consume me and tear you to shreds. I wish I was stronger… I'm sorry, Sakura. But I'm not._

* * *

**Tsunade Senju Age: (SHE'S 35… **I'm a horrible liar**)**

* * *

"What do you mean, 'she's gone'?" The Hokage was burning with fury, her face still flushed from the twelfth cup of sake. It was supposed to help her unwind, although all it was managing to do was raise her all ready skyrocketing blood pressure. Beside her, Shizune, battered and bruised from the attack was a whirlwind of frenzied motions, moving back and forth with her medical equipment and acupuncture needles, struggling hopelessly to get her best friend and mentor to calm down.

~Kakashi looked visibly shaken; he had only let the pinkette out of his sight for a minute. In fact, it wasn't even a minute, he had watched her turn the corner towards the temple cafeteria for water and bandages and when he rounded the bend right behind her, she was gone. There had been no trace of her having ever been down there in the first place either. Sakura Haruno, an accomplished ANBU and possessed Kunoichi who, though not particularly clumsy, was unable to do much in the arts of silent stealth, especially to a level that would baffle the ANBU captain. She had effectively disappeared and the Copy Ninja had no idea where she had gone. That had put the older sensei on edge, something didn't smell right and it wasn't the horrible stench of blood wafting around the room.

~"Hokage, Sakura is not in the temple or on this mountain, Pah-Kun and the others have scouted the entire area and have found nothing. She just disappeared."

~"She couldn't have, the Akatsuki were gone before she went missing, there's no one to take her hostage," the Hokage looked lethally down at another cup of sake, but set it on the table before Shizune could complain. The older woman suddenly didn't have the appetite for her favorite alcohol, this news sickened her stomach beyond her normal limits.

~A low knock was heard from the door and the occupants of Tsunade's makeshift office turned to see the Sai eerily standing without an expression plastered to his pale features, "may I come in, Hokage?"

~The ANBU captain stood aside, knowing the young art nin had something important to say, taking up a standing residence beside an abnormally silent Jiraiya, who had said nothing in several hours. The toad sage was worrying over the reaction his only

student would have when the information leaked about the pinkette's disappearance.

~"What is it?" Tsunade asked calmly, lifting her elbows onto her scrapped together desk, leaning her chin delicately on her folded hands.

~"Earlier, during the attack, Naruto, the Uchiha, and myself were heading down the west wing corridor when the Akatsuki member… Sasori, I believe, attempted to battle us. During the fight, Sasuke froze up," this seemed to catch everyone's attention, most everyone in the small, rubble riddled room knew that the youngest Uchiha was many things, but hesitant wasn't one of them. The black haired avenger would have darted a head before anyone else at times, even Naruto.

~"He started talking to himself, saying 'no, I can't.' And his eyes started to swirl from red to black, not anything like what I've seen from the Sharingan before, it appeared as if something was trying to come to the surface in his eyes. A demon." The art nin cleared his throat and licked his dry lips. Fighting through troves of clay bombs and an army of animated puppets had been hell on most of his body. He was lucky to still be standing, he was honestly exhausted. "When Sasori attacked us, Naruto tried to get Sasuke out of the way but he ended up getting nicked in the arm anyway and after that something…_ odd_ happened."

~Tsunade's eyes grew wide, her arms making a kind of shooing gesture in anger, "stop putting me on the edge of my seat, dammit. This isn't a suspense novel, just tell me what happened!"

~"The Uchiha turned into a monster, Lady Hokage. I've never seen this kind of jutsu transformation before in my life, I've never even drawn something that nightmarish. His skin turned a shade of coal, his eyes were like two swirling demonic orbs, his hair grew and changed white, and he sprouted wings. He said if I didn't leave he was going to kill me and Naruto, but it didn't sound like Sasuke's voice. It was deeper, more evil." When Sai had finished, everyone had gone motionless, even Shizune and her blurring hands had come to a stop as she listened.

~"This has happened before," Kakashi piped up at length, causing the room's attention to drift to the Copy Nin, "Sasuke doesn't think I know, but it's a curse seal that Orochimaru put on him during the Chunin Exams. Itachi told me a little more about it after the elders all died, it's a form of our dead snake Sannin. I was told to be wary, but I didn't think anything more would happen after the Akatsuki attack." Everyone tensed up tightly, the thickness of the nervous pressure was drowning and it wasn't until Tsunade finally spoke that the feeling began to dissipate, if only a fraction.

~"You mean to tell me," she began, hair falling over her face, rage was building within her, "as a Hokage I wasn't informed of this information?" Her hands shook and she gripped her fingers together until they turned white.

~"I wasn't fully aware of the situation, my lady, until-"

~Itachi stormed into the room, his chest heaving out of breath. His Mangekyo swirled dangerously, leading the occupants of the makeshift office to believe he'd gone mad, the ruffled appearance didn't make things any better for the ex-Akatsuki member either.

~"Sasuke's taken Sakura to a hideout in Earth Country!" He spat out.

~Tsunade bolted to her feet and grabbed her thin jacket that guarded against the Kage Peak winds and chill, although as boiling mad as the Hokage was, it was debatable as to whether she needed it. She blurred to Itachi's front and grabbed his flak vest front in a tight, near choke hold, "how do you know this."

~"The Mizukage," Itachi whispered, taking the woman's hands gently and pulling them away, "without the goddess' old container to keep the Akatsuki from seeing, the boy is unwittingly spying."

~She finally let go at length, fingers sliding down Itachi's front as she struggled with her inner churning emotions and fought down an enormous feeling of tantrum throwing fury. Her feelings were clouding her judgment and she knew it, needing to calm down before it affected the way she gave orders.

~"Bring him here, Kakashi. I don't think Mizukage Yagura should be allowed to dawdle around."

~"He might fight," the ANBU man warned.

~"Then restrain him, if he's a real Kage, he's knows to worry about his people first and think about himself later. Even if it means we have to kill him. Remind him of his duty."

~Kakashi dispersed in a blink of smoking clouds, leaving behind the older Uchiha brother, a raging blonde Hokage, a toady sage, an art Shinobi, and a frazzled medical nin.

~"Sai, find that stupid Naruto and keep him in check. Jiraiya, convene an emergency meeting of the Kages… minus our spy. You, Uchiha, keep your eyes on Yagura as if your life depends on it and report me anything abnormal and, Shizune!—" The woman in question darted her eyes up, "—pour me another damn drink."

~"What is the meaning of this?" Onoki bellowed angrily when a masked ANBU from Konoha roughly grabbed a severely injured, sleeping Deidara from his cot.

~"I'm sorry, Tsuchikage Onoki," Neji's low lilt breathed through the covering mesh of his mask, "but the missing nin Deidara must be contained until the Kages all convene and decide his fate. This is by order of Konoha's Hokage."

~"I don't care what that big breasted drunk has to say!" Onoki practically hissed, his only remaining, personal bodyguard Akatsuchi reached around and grabbed the handled grip of his smashing war hammer, making ready an attack should he need to use it.

~"Tsuchikage, please. This is for the interest of everyone, your missing nin will not be injured in my care, that I can promise."

~Onoki's eyes continued to rage, a kind of light blue aura churned around his much smaller frame and an odd zephyr wind kicked up out of nowhere, "don't touch my s—" he cut himself off when he noticed his words, inwardly growling about his lack of emotional restraint.

~"You will_ not_ touch him_," _the older man growled, now a group of Stone nin had enclosed in on the lone Leaf ANBU, forcing Neji to stand his ground.

~"Tsuchikage Onoki!" A female voice ground out and Tsunade's busty form gaited across the dirty, muddled floor, behind her in tow were the other Kage's excluding a certain Mist Shinobi. "I know you feel boxed in for this, but the rest of the village heads have decided to take very cautious steps in this exceedingly delicate situation."

~The blonde took a gentle grip and knelt down beside the old man, leaning in close to his ear, "I know your feelings about Deidara. I know he was your favorite pupil, and I know you worry about him because of his… parentage… but I assure you, he will be in the best care. No harm will come to him."

~Tsunade's words froze Onoki stiff. He didn't know how she knew about Deidara, didn't think he wanted to know how she knew, but if she had knowledge of the blonde Akatsuki member, than she had leverage on him and that was the last thing he needed right now. Trying not to cause anymore of a scene, the Tsuchikage bowed his head in defeat and looked down at the sleeping young man who hadn't stirred a muscle since he had passed out from blood loss.

~"Can you promise on your_ life_, he won't be harmed?" He ground his teeth together viciously remembering the horrendous memory of Sakura's dragon biting off the young man's arm, copious amounts of red essence pouring out of the gnarled, jagged wound.

~"It was my Kunoichi who fixed him. Remember that. My medics are extremely good, Onoki, and my ANBUs are just as skilled. No harm will befall the Akatsuki member."

~"He's not an Akatsuki!" The white haired man shouted, clenching his fist so tight his nails dug pinkening crescents into his palm, "he's just confused. He doesn't have anyone but me and… and…" Tsunade's gentle hand upon the man's shoulder quieted his shaking voice, the comforting gesture was looked on as a sort of reaching friendship for the two village's and everyone held their breath as the Leaf Kunoichi whispered again into the man's ear.

~"Your **_son_** will be fine. I give you my blood promise on that." It was a secret. The woman knew that and no one save herself, the Tsuchikage, and a long since dead woman knew of the secret, and no one ever would until the time was right. She lifted her eyes to the watching Neji, jerking her head towards the sleeping Akatsuki member's form and the ANBU nodded curtly, carefully lifting Deidara's bulk easily into his grasp. In a flash he was gone, blurring down the hall towards their makeshift prison cells, knowing it would be the only place to keep the missing nin.

~The two Kages rose to their feet and stalked passed the others, everyone frozen in time for a split second before need forced them into a frenzied reaction. Gaara, Ae, and the very young pink eyed girl followed in tow behind Tsunade and Onoki, heading towards their war meeting to form some kind of a plan.

~"How do we know what that criminal says is true?" Ae had since found his stupid adopted brother, beating the poor, defenseless Jinchuriki into oblivion just before entering the meeting, the younger man sporting a few freshly made bruises and a shiner. He had calmed down a lot, the massacre earlier having humbled his normally angry demeanor.

~Tsunade nodded knowingly, "because Itachi knows more about the Akatsuki, the ancients, and this oncoming battle than anyone else we have at our disposal. At least anyone who will _tell_ us anything. Also, he is a valued member of our village, acquitted of all charges when new evidence came to light of his framing." She knew the other Kage's would be skeptical, had know their skepticism would make this meeting dredge on, but she knew she had to squash their doubts. Nowhere in her mind did she hold a shred of ambiguity to her Shinobi, even if he was a blasted Uchiha. He had proven his worth before his inescapable run after the massacre and upon his return, doing secret missions that no one else had yet been informed of. He was trustworthy and she would bet her life on that gamble.

~"Please, Itachi Uchiha," Onoki said at length after a moment of pregnant silence, "tell us what you know."

~Itachi gave the room a sweeping glance, his earlier, scrambled appearance had hence been fixed and he had plastered on his expressionless façade once again, keeping any and all emotion out of his voice. "The Akatsuki's leader mentioned something in passing to our group some time ago about Mizukage Yagura, saying the boy had been under the control of Kazechi and Madara for years." He watched the movie reel of memories race through his brain as he spoke.

~"We used the advantage to input most of our men, resources, and hideouts within the territory of Mist. It served as the perfect protection and best place to gather intell. We knew of the goddess' scroll through the god Kazechi and found out the other scrolls' whereabouts after some searching. In the beginning, our mission was to collect Jinchurikis for Madara, this was before Kazechi had been released from his prison."

~"When Orochimaru _attempted_ to take control of the god, Kazechi overtook his body and used it to search for a proper Shinobi from Cloud, as of yet I am unsure why he needed to have this _specific_ Shinobi. He used this new ninja's techniques and body to overtake Madara by force, throwing out Orochimaru when he was finished with the snake Sannin. When the god had control of the Akatsuki and all of our manpower and resources, we changed our main focus to collecting the four other ancient scrolls, keeping the Jinchuriki mission on the side. I didn't personally find out about Kazechi's objective until Madara told me about it more than a year ago."

~"If we gathered all the ancient powers and all the pieces of the ten-tail, Kazechi could use Ganimaru's power to absorb their bodies to create a perfect body for himself. He would then use this new body to destroy this world and make a new one under his rule, wiping out any and all resistance."

~The Kage's listening all took a collective breath, the images in their heads were grim. Kazechi's laughing form stood over a bloody battlefield, the countless piles of dead littered the earth, their life essence drenching the ground and turning it into a desolate wasteland. No one would be spared, this they knew, everything would die at this power hungry god's hands.

~"How many Jinchurikis have the Akatsuki discovered?—"

~"Three," a voice piped up, knowing Itachi wouldn't know of the collected number since his disband some weeks back. All eyes turned towards the door and Onoki almost fell out of his chair.

~Deidara stood in only a pair of sweat pants and sandals, his entire upper body wrapped tightly in white bandages that were tinged a slight red color coming from the location of his wound, "we managed to acquire two more Jinchurikis since Itachi defected, yeah."

~"What are you doing out of your room!" Onoki shouted, "stop being a stupid pupil and go heal."

~"Give it a rest, old man, I'm not your student anymore, yeah." The blonde stalked into the room, shutting the door behind him and coming to sit cross-legged on the floor beside Itachi. Though Deidara had a mutual hatred of the Uchiha, it seemed overridden in this moment of personal weakness for the younger man. Aside from Tsuchikage Onoki, Deidara didn't know anyone else, and because Kisame was rotting all tied up somewhere in this temple's bowels, the explosion nin felt a kind of ease in staying close to someone familiar.

~"How did you get passed my ANBUs?" Tsunade questioned astonished.

~"They're fine, yeah. That Mist Kage told me my information would be useful and put those guards to sleep. He said to tell Itachi to hurry up, Kazechi is trying to see and hear our plans."

~"How is the older Uchiha going prevent our enemy from knowing our tactics?" Gaara said suddenly, interested only in finding out a way to protect not only his village but the others as well. If the Mizukage threatened that balance, he knew something drastic would need to be done about it.

~"I can block what the god hears and sees through Yagura with my Mangekyo, but only for a time. Kazechi manages to break down the barrier after a few hours, we tried it after the ancient container passed on."

~"So we need to make a plan of attack," Ae put everyone back on track, they were wasting precious time in chatting about the non-essential things and that wasn't a luxury they possessed at the moment.

~"Yes," Tsunade agreed, "I believe the only course of action to take is to gather up every fighting man and woman all of our countries possess, ninja or not, and forge a direct assault on Kazechi before he can get any more tailed demons or god scrolls."

~"He all ready stole the manmade goddess from Sky Village, yeah. She was a fucking bitch to keep sleeping too, tried to crush us with falling rocks." Deidara reached across his chest in a futile attempt to cross his arms, but realized the mistake and gingerly gripped his bandaged stump instead. The medicine the pinkette nin had given him worked wonders and he felt no pain, he just had to get used to the fact that one of his arms was now being digested by a dragon summon flying around somewhere outside.

~"Then we need to hurry!" Onoki growled out, "this meeting is wasting time."

~"I suggest we dole out duties for each of the Kages," Gaara began, trying to quell the rising fight that was sure to break out, tempers were rising to astronomical levels every passing second and the entire room could feel it.

~"We haven't heard everything the Uchiha knows yet," Ae said, knowing he needed to hear everything to make a decision, even if it cost them time.

~"We've heard enough," Tsunade argued back emotionlessly. She agreed whole-heartedly with the young Kazekage, knowing the young red head was wise beyond his years to keep from delving into the surging panic and emotions everyone else was displaying. She was sure it was difficult for him to be this calm at a time like this because of a certain missing Kunoichi. Whether he would admit it or not, the young man held a strong attachment to the missing pinkette that border-lined an obsession. He had this odd need to keep her safe, stemming from the time Sakura had spent in Suna over the years to aid in the restoration of the Sand Village's medical field. Since the ruler of Wind had begun doling out ninja duties to Konoha instead of its own hidden village, Suna had deteriorated, many of their residents leaving to lead new lives elsewhere. Many Shinobi had left too and Sand was teetering on the edge of collapse until Sakura Haruno had come in, and brought with her a strong alliance from Leaf, as well as her medical knowledge. Since Sakura's savior arrival, Gaara had found a great respectful friendship with the woman, enough so that Tsunade had hoped the maturing Jinchuriki would aid the pinkette in her depression due to the youngest Uchiha's absence. Instead, the ties between Suna and Konoha grew exponentially, and in reports brought to the Hokage from the Kazekage himself, it was smilingly discovered that Gaara named Sakura as the reason his village hadn't completely disappeared. Because of all this, Tsunade knew Gaara was inching towards madness as he fought to control his rising urgency to find the medical Kunoichi and bring her back to safer grounds.

~"We know what the god wants and how he proposes to get it," the Hokage said, "we have all the remaining Jinchurikis save one in our grasp. We can hit Kazechi before he gets too powerful if we band together as we have in other wars." She inhaled deeply, looking over at a calmly smiling Jiraiya who was mentally giving her his strength.

~"This isn't just a war to keep another village from invading. This isn't about trying to gain land or resources.—"

~"Tsunade," the pink-eyed Mizukage said softly from the door, "you can make your inspiring speech when we gather our armies together. It'll mean more then." He leaned against the doorframe in exhaustion, his face drenched in slick sweat as he took an unsteady step through the portal, followed in tow by a younger, female version of himself and Tsunade's guarding ANBUs.

~"What is this? Why can't my men do as they're told and just guard an invalid and a calm Jinchuriki?" Tsunade barked out, her confused ANBUs rubbing their heads and trying to figure out where they were, the sleeping jutsu was wearing off too slowly for them.

~"Because I told them I needed to tell you all what I know," Yagura slipped to the ground as the tiny girl beside him struggled to keep him standing, but even the Mizukage's small bulk was too much for the young girl and they both fell to the ground.

~"I managed to sever the bond the god had on my mind and before Kyodaigame ripped the connection to shreds I saw a little bit of what the Akatsuki were doing." He took a sharp breath, pain blossoming out from his head and extending all over his body, "they have a goddess named Shisora and three Jinchurikis, but aside from that they're raising an army."

~"We knew that," Tsunade informed, the earlier discussion in the Inner Sanctum had been long and this subject had been covered.

~"It's not just a random army, Hokage," Yagura could feel the black void of unconsciousness swimming across his vision, red splotches dancing in his line of sight. He could no longer see the room around him clearly, but he had to tell them what he knew, if he didn't they wouldn't be prepared.

~"It's a mass of dead soldiers using the faces of our dead friends and family," he drifted then, eyes coming closed and the heavy blanket of darkness blanked out everything else.

~Tsunade as well as the other sat stunned, glancing at each other oddly, not quite knowing what Yagura had meant, but in the back of their minds something evil lurked. They knew something bad was going to happen, something likely to cause a rocketing uproar and there was no way to counter it.

~"We should get the word out to gather our armies," Ae murmured, a slight tinge of concern dressing his voice at Yagura's collapse, but Tsunade's personal assistant was checking vitals and giving her Kage the thumbs up sign.

~"We should search for the only missing Jinchuriki, the less power that shithead has, the less he can hurt us, yeah." Deidara received a few strange glances for his foul language, but no one said a word.

~"What Jinchurikis do we have and which does the Akatsuki have?" Ae questioned.

~"We have Kyubi, Kyodaigame, Rukobi, and Shukaku," Tsunade returned, knowing the identity only of those, "that brother of yours is one as well. I can feel it, which one is he?"

~Killer B looked up from his small notebook and nodded politely to the Hokage, "Hachibi, my fine lay-dee." Across the room, Ae rolled his eyes and shook his head, probably wondering just how big of an idiot his adopted brother was, but all ready knowing that answer.

~All eyes focused on the two ex-Akatsuki members in the center of the room, expecting them to speak next and Deidara heaved a heavy sigh of irritation. He was getting tired and his stump was starting to itch, "I just know what they are, I don't know who or the names of the demons."

~Racking his brain, the explosions expert scratched his chin and pushed his bangs over his ear in thought. His broken scope device had been taken away during the aftermath of the temple's attack and it left behind odd, gouging indents that had years ago turned to white scars around his eye, but it didn't detract from his handsome appearance.

~"I'm pretty sure they were the seven-tailed beetle, the four-tailed monkey, and the two-tailed cat, yeah."

~"Then that leaves just the five-tailed horse," Onoki breathed out lowly, almost too low for anyone to hear, "I know where the Jinchuriki is hiding, I'll get him myself."

~"Fine," Tsunade spoke up, "we have our missions. Let's get them done before anything else happens. We can't afford to wait around without action anymore." Everyone agreed with her and the meeting immediately dispersed, the long treks home needed to be done swiftly and messages sent out. Amassing a large enough army to counter a _god_ would take precious time and resources, both of which all the villages were lacking an over abundance of. They all prayed wordlessly that this haphazardly thrown together plan would work.

~"Lady Tsunade," Gaara called out, coming to the woman's side before she could inspect Yagura herself, "what about Sakura Haruno?"

~"We'll have to pray she can get out of this by herself. For now, there isn't anything I can do until I assemble our country's troops."

~"We can't send anyone?" He asked, the churning emotions he was feeling were struggling to come to the surface, egged on by an annoying Sand demon cackling in the background of his mind.

~"No."

~"Then _I'll_ go," he growled angrily, sand on the floor beneath her and his sandals suddenly felt electrically charged and moved outward from the Suna nin in rippling waves.

~"Don't be stupid, Gaara. Calm down. You know that isn't possible, and if you tried it I would knock you on your ass," she pretended to not see the heated glare the Kazekage threw her. "Have more faith in Sakura, she's an ANBU, and on top of that, my student. She's greasy, she'll wiggle out. She always does." With that said, the woman knelt beside the pink eyed girl and a sleeping Yagura, quickly assessing the situation and letting Gaara fall to the back of her mind. He wasn't important right now and she could only beg and plead to Kami that she could believe her own words. She needed Sakura to be all right, that girl was the only other precious person to her next to Jiraiya and Shizune she had left and she would be damned if she let her die. Somehow, someway, Tsunade would form a plan to find the pinkette, even if it killed her.

* * *

**Sakura Haruno Age: 19**

* * *

~She felt his tongue slid down the valley of her breasts before she saw it and shivered almost violently when his warm breath danced across a hypersensitive nipple. Her gut ached harshly and forced her to remember why it hurt, eyes springing open.

~Sasuke, or what felt strangely like Sasuke, his changed appearance helped little to his identity, held her pinned between his strong legs and arms. He had his head between her perfectly shaped mounds, kissing and tasting with sharp nips to her heated body.

~"Stop it," Sakura moaned, hands shakily inching to her stomach to feel for the life of her sons. A small bit of light green chakra delved deep beneath the layers of dermis, muscle, and sinew to the hiding haven where the twins quietly lived. She felt around, unable to see or hear a heartbeat and that's when her motions became frantic.

~Sensing his mate's apprehension, the animalistic side of Sasuke growled menacingly and lowered his gaze to her hands, seeing their anxious quest. He snatched them tightly, Sakura almost expecting him to throw them away, but he lowered himself to her protruding belly and sniffed at the naked flesh and moved her hands right over the huddled twins. When she found their quiet, swiftly beating hearts, she calmed her haywire emotions to assess the situation.

~She was naked, likely stripped by this demon quickly licking his way up his woman's body, tasting the salty essence of her skin. Her gaze held in his when he finally looked at her and a smirk spread across his frightening features, he looked purely animal.

~They were laying on the damp, cold floor of a cave, the stalagmites all around them told her they in deep, probably too deep for anyone to hear her scream if she had that inkling, although she knew the gesture would be fruitless. She could hear running water somewhere to her right and slowly she shifted her aching head towards the small hot spring nearby. It looked as if this place had housed others before, a small fire pit going strong with warming flames and log benches arranged in unnatural patterns.

~"Sasuke," she called out, her voice shaking as he nuzzled her supple chest, reminding her more of a happy dog than a demonic monster. He looked up at her, the sound of her soft tone had pulled the curious animal in him to the surface, but Sakura didn't let that fool her, he was still a lethal creature in this position.

~"Where are we?" She whispered, hoping to keep him calm for a little bit longer while she figured out what to do.

~"_Home_," his demon rumbled and leaned in to kiss her lips, but she turned away. That caused an angry growl to race up his throat from the bottom of his chest and he snatched up her chin to viciously take from her what she wouldn't give up easily. His kiss was bruising and harsh, his teeth brushing along the entrance to her wet orifice while his tongue explored the softness of her.

~_"Mine!" _He growled out with all the ferocity of a feral beast.

~"What are you talking about?" She gulped in the precious oxygen he denied her during the lengthy lip lock, a rising, urgent anger snaked through her body.

~_"My mate. MINE!"_ his bellowing voice shook he cave and a few rocks broke free of the ceiling, crashing down around them though none hit Sasuke or his disrobed captive. He bit at the vein in her neck, licking the pumping artery through the thin, cream-colored dermis, and relishing in her involuntary shivers.

~"Why did you bring me here?"

~_"To mate."_ If Sakura had the courage to, she would have rolled her eyes. All he seemed to care about was sex, such a typical male necessity, and it irritated her, but it didn't change the fact that his hardened male shaft was pressed hard against her lower gut.

~"Please, Sasuke," she breathed out, trying not to bring up his raging ire, "please don't." He ignored her quiet pleas, tracing her beautiful outline with a sharpened claw, leaving behind a small trail of blood.

~_"Want. Now,"_ he enveloped her left nipple, lowering his taloned fingers to her wetted outer lips, pushing gently through and inside her over stimulated feminine core. At first she gasped out, tightening her inner walls around his two intruding fingers, but quickly gained control of herself and struggled to push his hand away.

~Sasuke grunted, relishing in the fight she put up. It was always more fun when he got to take from her. He traced his tongue over her furled areola, leaving behind a slick streak of saliva as he moved to the Sakura's sister peak, giving it the same kneading attention.

~"No!" She shouted, her voice echoing off the cave's walls as she threw her hands into Sasuke's immoveable chest. "Get off me!" Her quickly rising temper was only matched by her frantic need to escape before this, beast changed Uchiha, went too far.

~His palm came so fast across the pinkette's face she at first didn't know what to think. Her fingers raced to calm the sting of her now screeching cheek, it would leave a nasty bruise, she could feel it. He'd hit her before, had done worse, but there was an insoluble expression voiding his façade and twisting it in her mind until it almost forced the Kunoichi to snap. It told her that she wouldn't escape no matter how hard she struggled and it would only lead to more pain if she didn't cooperate, yet Sakura was known for her stubbornness, a trait given to her through years of painstaking ninja training and a selfish need to have her way.

~Sakura lay complacent while her gatekeeper went back to his attentions on her still damp nipples, angrily letting her fury boil up inside her and give her the courage she needed to break free. She hadn't the foggiest idea what she would do when she managed to slip away, but her only mission was to be out of harm's reach and the sooner the better.

~Sasuke lifted himself up on his knees, spreading his mate's legs apart. She would be submissive, she had to be or he would beat the fire out of her. It was his right to take her whenever he pleased, however he pleased, wherever he pleased, and now wasn't going to be any different, she would take it and like it or she could take it in shrieking pain.

~His throbbing member teased at her wet entrance, brushing against it just enough to test the proverbial waters before inching the male organ slowly inside his conquest. She at first simply ignored the painful stretching the further in he pushed, but a squeaking whimper slipped passed her thick, pink lips, egging her molester on.

~Without warning, Sasuke snatched up the undersides of his pinkette's legs and used the advantageous leverage to pound out a patterned rhythm. At each hard thrust, she was pulled closer, his hips surging forward, slamming himself to her womb with tortuous results that left her breathless and reeling.

~The medical Kunoichi tightened up the battle hardened muscles in her lower body, fighting to find a less painful position, all the while, this monster before her fighting to keep his mate still. He would growl when she tried to pull back, wrenching her body closer and _disciplining_ the young woman with another jaw clenching delve deeper. His claws dug into her skin and marred the creamy surface with streaks of red, yet he continued in his conquest.

~"St… Stop! It hurts, Sasuke! _It hurts_!" Sakura flung her fists against his chest and shoved him back, pushing just enough chakra into the blow to catch the ashen figure off guard. For a hanging second, the ninette saw her opening and managed to fling a chakra-laden foot for Sasuke's head, knowing it wouldn't connect and likely only piss him off, but it would buy her some precious seconds.

~Her leg whizzed through air as the demonic formed Uchiha rolled away and leapt to his feet, rage flickering dangerously in his glowing red eyes. A roar screamed up from the bottom of his chest and he angrily charged her, intent on taking from her whatever he wanted, but was surprised when the pinkette simply spun on heel and raced for the hot spring. It was likely her only chance to get the upper hand here.

~He blurred ahead, grabbing the woman's arm in a death grip as she would have jumped for the pool, tossing aside her like some broken ragdoll across the cavern floor. She rolled a few yards, springing up with a perfectly placed hand and shifting her body into a defensive stance.

~A dark rumble echoed up from his throat and the monstrous Uchiha laughed at the woman's impertinence, he hadn't thought fighting for what was his could be so hilariously seductive. His eyes honed in on her and he took a testing step forward, watching Sakura's unwavering stance tighten if only slightly. He could plainly see she hadn't the foggiest idea what to do next, unsure of her own power against his, which was a good thing for Sasuke, the pinkette didn't know how strong he was at the moment and it was something he could use to his advantage.

~Another step closer and still Sakura stood frozen, fists poised to protect her face, as if it would save her from the pummeling the white haired demon was going to inflict upon her. A smile broke out on his ashen features as he imagined his mate lying underneath him, covered in her own blood. It was thoroughly intoxicating. He all ready knew the scent of her red essence, could practically taste it on his tongue, just seeing it draping her nakedness would have made the picture in his mind perfect.

~Something twinged in the back of the Uchiha's mind, a place supposed to be lying dormant, but ever so slowly, the tiny ache in his mind was waking up and struggling to come forward. For only a moment he paused in stalking his prey, dwelling upon the one nagging thought pestering his mind, but he pushed the annoyance away and smirked savagely. He was ready to take what was his.

_~"Come,"_ the male whispered, drawing ever closer, opening his palm out to Sakura and inviting her with a silent demand to do as she was told, promising no pain if she obeyed.

~"No," she answered shakily, continuing her waiting charade, her back almost crushed against the cold backdrop of the cavern wall, if he drew much closer he would be able to reach her.

~His smirk contorted into an infuriated snarl, his white teeth a stark contrast against his black lips and gray flesh. He reached for her neck, wrapping his fingers around the cream-colored skin and tightening his grip until he heard a pained squeak, but still she remained defiant, nails digging into his arm and wrist.

~A rush of ominous, dark blue chakra filled his arm as he shoved her deeper into the cave wall, the barrier cracked underneath the combined weight, spidering out and cratering against Sakura's porcelain flesh. She could feel some sharpened shards digging into the tender dermis of her back and ass, likely causing some sort of bleeding, but she ignored the pain in order to keep her mind focused.

~"Let go," she hissed, choking on her own words as Sasuke crushed her windpipe and made breathing impossible. He wouldn't kill her, she knew that and so did he, but nothing said he wasn't allowed to toy with her a bit.

~_"Quiet!"_ His face floated closer to hers, inhaling deep the addictive scent of her blood as it dribbled down his digging talons that engraved themselves in her neck. He licked away the pillowing essence, letting the coppery sweet taste rush over the delicate nerves of his tongue. She was beautiful_ and_ tasty, something he wanted to try more of in other places, feeling his burgeoning shaft throb slightly.

~Sakura saw her chance as the small twinkling of fuzzy, white stars began exploding in her vision from lack of oxygen. She took the short opportunity to fill her right hand with a powerhouse burst of light green energy, which she slammed into the distracted demon's head, watching in gasping satisfaction when she gained instant freedom and he flew through the air into the opposite wall. Rocks and debris were haphazardly flung in all directions as Sasuke was buried into a hollow of stone. Above him, the hanging stalagmites, which were sharpened to a diamond's tip broke off from their homes and fell like impaling stakes right for his body. They fell with a thundering crash and Sakura's enemy was covered in a heap of granite boulders.

~The cave was quiet all around her for a long few pregnant seconds and in a heavy, relief riddled exhale, she let loose her baited breath. She slowly managed to pick herself up off the frigid ground and stumble over to the pile of cast aside clothing near the burning fire, gingerly climbing into the ANBU medical gear. He was alive, a light beating like that wouldn't kill him and she knew it. It might have knocked the near impervious Uchiha out, but never killed him.

~She grit her teeth against the pain in her back as she brushed away most of the imbedded pebbles, and debated over the necessity of healing the miniscule wounds, but vanity won her over and she sent a washing wave of pain reducing energy coursing throughout her body.

~"Thanks for nothing," Sakura growled to the goddess, feeling the ancient creature warble underneath the surface like some brooding child. The witch snottily ignored her container and buried herself deeper into the woman's subconscious without a word, obviously still angry over her severe pummeling back in the temple when the Kunoichi took her body back.

_~"Sakura?"_ Sasuke's inner voice called, his sane awareness suddenly blinking awake and glancing out through a sheet of blood red glass. The smack to the back of the head had shoved the beast to the background and allowed the Shinobi to come forward. He wiggled uselessly against a wall of weight, a horrendously biting throb making itself known in his left leg, getting progressively worse as the seconds ticked by. Something had skewered it, that much he knew, but he didn't know what.

~"Sakura?" He called a bit louder, unsure why he couldn't remember how he'd gotten into this mess, everything before he woke up was a black void filled with head splitting agony. All he knew was that he was standing in the temple, talking to… something, and that's when the throbbing started, blanking out everything else in his mind until everything went dark. The only thing that continued to repeat itself was one word, a name, _Sakura_.

~Sasuke pushed at the first boulder, managing to shove it to the side, even as another seemed to fill its place. He fought against the rocky tides for a long few moments, finally feeling the futile attempts only grating on his short nerves. In a quick, all consuming blast, the Uchiha fired up a wave of specifically placed chakra and flung the debris away.

~At first, he was glad for the clean oxygen that filled his lungs, but that comfort was swiftly stripped from him when he felt the cold, sharp edge of a blade at his throat. His eyes burst open and he saw the messy tresses of a tormented Kunoichi with flaming green-gold eyes burning him through.

~"If you try to rape me again, you bastard, I'm going to kill you," she threatened violently, pressing Kusanagi's edge harder against him and drawing blood.

~"Sakura," he warned, the black irises a shocking difference to his frightening red orbs only minutes ago.

~"Are you back to being you?" She asked quietly, slowly lessening the pressure of the Grass Cutter. Her weight shifted just slightly, but the movement made Sasuke's face contort wildly when she pressed against the spearing stalagmite in his thigh.

~He hissed furiously and shoved the unprepared woman off, somehow sitting up to assess the damage done, "fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! FUCK!" His voice carried and echoed off the walls of the cave, but with no one to hear it, they didn't think of keeping quiet.

~Sakura scrambled wildly to her knees, clutching tightly to Kusanagi's grip in case she should need it, though something told her she would be fine with Sasuke back to normal. She glanced at his impaled leg and pursed her lips together, "you deserved it, asshole."

~"I don't care right now! Get it out!" He knew it would cause more damage to free himself from this vantage point and it left the powerhouse Kunoichi to do the job, but it didn't make the task any less daunting, it was going to hurt like a mother fucker.

~She leaned over the sharpened rock and set down Sasuke's sword with less gentleness than she was sure the weapon was accustomed to, the hurting Shinobi throwing her a dirty glance. The expression glided off her expressionless façade and she readied herself to grab the stalagmite, "it's going to hurt."

~The Uchiha clenched his teeth, almost grinding them, "just. Do. It."

~Her hands gripped the rock tight, managing with only a bit of flooding chakra to fling the heavy object away and immediately set to keeping her cave companion from bleeding to death when the new, unnatural opening was revealed. She covered the gaping wound with her hands, snatching up his own while he continued to growl and moan in pain.

~"I need something to slow the bleeding so I can heal it," she informed emotionlessly, feeling the medic in her welling up as duty beckoned her to remain calm.

~"My—" another shot of pain and adrenaline screamed all over his body, leaving him paralyzed, "—my shirt! Use my shirt!" His grip faltered when Sakura moved away to his clothing pile, the gushing life force spilling through his fingers and pooling underneath him.

~"I'm going to pass out," he hissed when she returned, laying flat as his head spun wildly.

~"Well don't," she ordered harshly, "I don't know what version of Sasuke I'll get when you wake up." Her fingers glided over the wound, staunching the free-flowing blood with a tight yank on his shirt that now sat knotted around his leg.

~"Did I change?" he asked, suddenly very aware of the claws on his hands and ash color of his skin. Everything was different on him, down to even his toes. It was the power of Orochimaru's Cursed Seal of Heaven, something the snake Sannin had injected him with back during his younger days of the Chunin Exams. It was one of the original reasons the Uchiha had left Konoha, next to wanting more power to defeat Itachi, Sasuke realized through a series of painful nightmares and near body tearing transformations that he needed to know how to control this cursed seal before it got someone killed. That's why he had left, that's why he had dumped a pretty, young Kunoichi who loved him childishly—yet desperately—on a cold bench. The longer he waited around in Konoha, the more his burning curse ate at his mind, tearing away the remaining vestiges of sanity he had after the massacre of his family. It wanted blood; to taste it, drink it, play with it, do everything evil it could possibly think of, slowly changing into something less chakra related and more demonic. After his departure that fateful night from Konoha the curse seal grew and changed into some awful, near physical thing that—at times—stole his body and mind to quench its insatiable thirst for violence.

~Orochimaru had welcomed him with open arms when Sasuke had come calling, only ever so glad to help tame the wild monster he'd personally infused into the Uchiha he'd handpicked for his new body. The Sannin was insane, a true demon that deserved to die, but the young Shinobi needed him or he was going to slowly fall prey to his evil desires.

~"Where are we?" Sasuke asked, leaning against the rock the pinkette Kunoichi pushed over to prop him up with. She continued to prod his wound, slinking in small threads of green chakra that explored the extent of his wound's damage and carefully knit the hamburgered flesh back together. Her eyes stayed intently focused on his leg, something akin to anger burning deep in her endless pools of emerald gems. She debated harshly with herself to just patch him up the old-fashioned way and allow him to heal on his own, it was nothing less than what he deserved, but the least she would do was heal the main arteries so he didn't bleed to death. Even with as much as she was fuming at the black-haired jerk, she didn't want him to die, even her earlier threat about killing him had been more of a bluff than anything else. A bluff that had somehow, miraculously worked..

~"I don't know, you brought me here."

~"What happened?" The muscles in his thigh tensed when Sakura's chakra connected a piece of tissue wrong and had to be snipped it apart again to correct the error. She looked up at him with an expression that could maim body parts.

~"You're telling me you don't remember anything?"

~Sasuke raised an obnoxious eyebrow and kept his gaze steady, not letting a shred of emotion into his voice while he needled her, "would I be asking if I did?"

~The pinkette's finger joints suddenly cracked, she fisted her left hand tightly, continuing to heal with her right while she struggled with the tempting fiends within that whispered for her to just punch the Uchiha out to make him shut up. She wondered inwardly if he'd _always_ been this annoying and asinine, and as she went over the more disheartening memories of him in her head, she knew he had always been this way.

~"You were raping me… again," she stopped there, didn't offer any more of an explanation, just sat there on her knees and healed him in his completely naked glory.

~"Did I hurt my sons?"

~A kind of hurting sting ached in her chest then, her green energy fading and her hands falling into her lap. She looked down at her arms, the freshly made scratch marks and deep marring wounds from Sasuke's nails still glowed ruby against her slightly tanned skin. She hadn't bothered to heal the scars, that could be done later when chakra wasn't in such high deman, "they're fine. _**I**_ protected them." Her mind wondered vaguely if he would even pause to ask her if she was all right, so she waited, hoping with everything she possessed that he wouldn't be intentionally cruel to her.

~There was silence for a long time, the water dripping from the spearing, cylindrical calcium buildups on the ceiling was the only sounds heard as the aqueous fluid plopped onto the limestone floor.

~Sakura closed her eyes against the rushing wave of tears that flooded her eyes. She tried to hold them back, but they came without permission and bubbled over her lids and down her cheeks. It was horrible the kind of relationship with this moron she seemed to have. Even if it was a mild form of gentle neglect, she wanted something softer than what she got from him, something gentler. She deserved that much at least, far more than what she had received thus far.

~"Annoying," he whispered out, the biting word almost a tangible knife cutting into her body. She covered her belly with her arms as if to protect her sons from the gaping wounds their neurotic father was trying to inflict.

~_"Stop it,"_ Ganimaru sharply ground out, "_stop letting the whelping brat make you weak. You have to be strong for your offspring."_

~The medical nin sniffled audibly and got to her feet, leaving Sasuke and his still open wound, gaping. She crawled into her outer clothes, buttoning up the front of her brown gear belt and dark green flak vest with the bright white and red symbol of her profession. Thoughts raced through her head at such a whipping pace, even the ancient goddess unable to read them.

~_"Be calm, Kunoichi,"_ she soothed, apparently her earlier ire having melted away, _"I warned you of pain before the ebb of the storm."_

~"I can't wait any longer for what you promised me," Sakura whispered softly, drawing Sasuke's attention from his brooding position on the ground. She sounded almost defeated, like nothing mattered anymore. Her eyes slowly scanned the cavernous room, seeing the dark passageway that would likely be the way out and she finished strapping on her weaponless gear before crossing the room to Sasuke's side and kneeling next to him.

~Her fingers made quick work of his wound, closing the marring up gap and leaving behind only the faintest hint of scar behind. She felt he wouldn't mind it too much, he wasn't the type to care about vanity over practicality, wasting precious chakra over healing a bad gash to perfection was a waste of energy. She knew he wouldn't say anything about it.

~"I'm leaving. You should stay here and rest until some of your strength returns, the blood loss wasn't too bad, but you'll hinder me if I bring you along." She made sure to stress the annoyance in her voice so he knew that she wasn't happy with him.

~"You're leaving me here? Because I thought you were annoying for crying?" He glared at her, appalled that she could even think to leave him behind over such a childish, immature reason. That wasn't going to happen in his mind and he got to his unsteady feet, feeling the blood rush to the rest of his body. There was a staggering second where Sasuke's vision swam and tiny red prickling spots flooded the outer edges of his gaze, but he shoved it aside and went to gather his things as well.

~With the depletion of his chakra, his demonic appearance was slowly sluffing off; skin was lightening to its normal hue, hair breaking and floating away as it darkened back to blue-ebony, and everything else seemed to just recede. If either party had been paying attention, one might have said something, but Sakura had her back turned and was heading towards the exit. He could follow if he wanted, she wouldn't be able to stop him, though she wasn't about to help him anymore, he was under his own strength now.

~She stopped at the passageway and touched her gloved hand to the slimy, wet surface and gazed into the morbid darkness ahead of her, "you know," her voice started, "for the record, it wasn't because you said I was annoying that I'm leaving you."

~Sasuke had finished pulling his head through his shirt and snatched up his green flak vest to put it on as well, "then what was it?"

~Her emerald orbs focused on him, still red from crying, though swiftly that was going away, "it was because you didn't ask me if I was all right after I told you what you did to me. Any normal human would have apologized, begged for my forgiveness, felt some kind of emotion other than placid indifference."

~"I'm not normal people."

~"Apparently," she let her hand sink into gravity as it slipped from the slimy cavern wall and slapped monotonously against her thigh. Her thoughts had hence slowed to a snail's crawl and she stalked slowly down the unlit corridor of this unnamed prison, but one thought continued to play in her head over and over again, _"I'm too broken to keep this pace."_

~Even though his wound was healed, a kind of numbing bruise had come over the muscles and sinew beneath the patched skin, making Sasuke Uchiha almost gimp every step he took. Though, he struggled hard not to show it, that and the pained expression that was always creeping up his stoically set features. He walked behind the pinkette at a yard's length, keeping with her steady pace even as it hurt him to do so.

~"Go back and rest," Sakura ordered lightly, knowing to assume the high and mighty Uchiha would listen was idiotic. He said nothing to her and kept walking, the silence engulfing them like a stifling blanket that couldn't be thrown off. It was uncomfortable and completely awkward, leaving something to be desired between the two.

~Sakura felt a burning need to fill the quiet with talking, but at the moment she felt more inclined to want to talk to Lee at the moment then this placid Uchiha and that was almost a fate worse than death. She sensed the darkness closing in more infinitely around them and at length she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. There was a discomfited second of thumbing through a small series of jutsu hand motions before a small blue-flamed orb grew from thin air and lit the darkened passageway. Its low light was easy on the eyes and made quick work of pushing back the thick choking darkness, agreeable to both parties. A slight movement from the corner of the pinkette's eyes drew her attention—if only slightly—towards Sasuke, where he had drawn closer to the fluorescent glow of her warm flame. He settled beside her in an unspoken word of comfort that he drew from the tiny bit of chakra ingenuity. If the medical nin hadn't known any better, she might have assumed the raven haired Shinobi was scared of the dark.

~They walked on in the quiet, the tiny chirpings and low crackles of the burning flame was the only sound that made its way to their ears, even the bubbling of the hot spring back in the cave room had lessened away until there was nothing left of it.

~_"Sakura,"_ Ganimaru breathed out, an odd feeling of foreboding entering the Kunoichi's mind. It was thick and sickening, floating through her head and down her body in a nauseating wave of sweat slicked fear. _"I feel a _him_."_

~The medic froze, her heeled sandals crunching the small pebbles underneath her feet and she sharply inhaled. Her hand flailed out and roughly snatched up Sasuke's shirtfront, yanking him unceremoniously with her to the frigid wall as she snuffed her flame.

~Wha—" his voice was swiftly silenced when a black gloved hand clasped tightly to his mouth and the dampening of Sakura's chakra raised his needling attention. He followed in swift suit, masking his energy just as a light came into view several hundred yards down the cavern corridor.

~_"I hear something,"_ a voice started.

~"You heard nothing, because I didn't hear anything," another retorted, though from the vantage point of the two shadow hiding ninjas, there was only one person coming down the hall. It was obviously dragging some white sheeted mass behind it sluggishly, the covering tinged slightly with blood.

~_"No, I'm sure I heard something."_

~"If we keep the master waiting, he's going to punish us."

~_"But if we allow intruders, he's going to__** kill**__ us."_

~"Good point. Let's leave the food here and we'll go look."

~Inwardly, Sakura cursed, taking a silent step backwards and clumsily running into Sasuke. The odd speaking_ thing _with large jowls was coming towards them, his green plant-like stalks swaying sickeningly above his head and a floated memory came to Sakura. His name was Zetsu, a monstrous creature she had never before seen the likes of save when she last spied him in the hideout when Itachi kidnapped her, and he answered only to Kazechi.

~She spun on heel and made like she was going to bolt back to the cavern, possibly find somewhere to hide, but a hand snatched up her own. The grip was tight, Sasuke's knuckles turning white from the pressure as the ninette struggled in vain to free herself.

~It hurt how hard he was gripping her wrist and her eyes drifted up to question her captor, but his eyes were screwed firmly shut, his free hand digging gouges into his scalp. He was experiencing pain, that much she could decipher, though from what was a mystery.

~She didn't dare say his name, fear creeping up along her spine. The same nauseating fear Ganimaru had felt only moments ago was becoming frenzied and still Zetsu drew ever unwaveringly closer, his lighted torch spreading the light further and further down the passageway.

~Finally, before they were caught, Sakura reached up and pinched Sasuke's cheek, hoping the distraction would force him to look at her. It worked, his tightly closed lids sprang open and his swirling Sharingan spun wildly in his optical sockets. She could see his mind buzzing with thoughts, could almost feel the demonic entity that hid beneath the surface, waking and shifting underneath his blood red gaze.

~"Sasuke?" She murmured out and tried again to pull her arm away, but to no avail. He was as immoveable as a boulder.

~Zetsu heard the low sound echo off the dank walls of this underground prison and smiled disgustingly, pausing for only a second before he blurred forward, right for Sakura.

~The medic gasped aloud, struggling to get away from the gripping Uchiha. Now he was moaning in pain, lightly smacking his head off the rocky cave wall as if to drive out some unbearable sound that was swiftly driving him mad. He dragged Sakura closer, not even recognizing her when his pupils focused solely on her trembling frame. They were filling was terrifying rage and the monster hiding inside was quickly breaking free to tear towards the surface.

~"No!" She shrieked and wrenched her arm away at last, losing her balance and careening towards the floor. Her hand caught her before she hit and flipped her hastily to her feet before Sasuke could think to snatch her back. He was helping them now, like he had been before. Sai had been right, something wasn't right about the Uchiha, something was controlling him aside the demonic presence taking over his body. The ancient god of Wind was likely the culprit, as Sakura had deduced from the water wench's cryptic codex and earlier ramblings. If she was to escape now, it would be under her own recognizance and decidedly without Sasuke.

~She fled the corridor as fast has her chakra filled legs could carry her, darting back into the hot spring cave. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest; hearing, feeling one or both of the Shinobis coming hot on her trail. The only reason she had been able to outrun them on this short distance was because of her lashing fear, strumming her chorded insides with a musician's ease.

~Her eyes glanced around everywhere, struggling violently to find some way to escape, no matter how insignificant. However, there were only walls, rocks, floors, and the hot spring, there was nothing else. Blinding terror drove her to stand at the water's edge, feeling Ganimaru swim inside her just beneath the surface.

~_"It leads somewhere,"_ the goddess murmured out of breath as if she'd been running a mile.

~Zetsu entered the room first, his gleaming eyes piercing her clear down to her soul and promising nothing but horror and dread, "come here, pretty, pretty!"

~_"Yes, she's just going to come like a dog when you call her."_

~"She might," his white side murmured indignantly, "look, she's actually going to fight us."

~Sakura reached into her pouch, digging around aimlessly for anything useful. She felt almost naked without her weapons, but at least she had her poison capsules and a Senbon Needle tying up her hair, if used in unison she was sure she could incapacitate one or both of her jailers. It would take some specifically trained chakra, a little bit of ANBU ingenuity, and a lot of luck, but she wasn't going to let them take her to Kazechi without a fight.

~White Zetsu held out his hand mockingly, as if to calm the shaking Kunoichi with some form of inviting dog-like call. Sakura could almost hear him whistling for her to come closer, and as hilariously disturbing as it was to have this plant thing actually thinking she could be called like a domesticated animal, she found it annoyingly asinine. So much so, that just as Sasuke came barreling in through the entrance, staggering against the wall, she was flying through the air, needle poised in one hand and a poison capsule in the other.

~Her first string of attacks came as leg swinging arcs, made to put Zetsu on his guard, pushing him further back and away from the water pool. She slashed viciously with her Senbon, both Shinobis knowing it wouldn't cause much more damage than a tiny scratch, but even having a small opening in his dermis protection could be lethal if coupled with the miniscule capsule.

~Zetsu side-stepped a left-handed punch, guarding against her right. He sensed a momentary lowering in the pinkette's security and flung his hand out to grab her Senbon, but she realized this and ducked low to get out of the way. She haphazardly rolled, a nearby rock digging into her side, though she pushed the pain away to focus solely on the fight.

~They battled back and forth, violently clashing with catastrophic collisions of chakra that made quick work of the still hanging stalagmites. Sakura had to bat at one of the spearing rock heads before it crashed down onto her body, while her Venus flytrap enemy narrowly managed to blur out of the way of a falling piece of ceiling.

~The momentary distraction offered precious seconds Sakura needed to pop the capsule pill into her mouth to coat the needle's entirety with the now wetted mash. She searched the dirt-clouded room listlessly for her enemy, eyes darting back and forth in search for even the slightest movement, eyes trained to take in everything.

~His chakra was gone, as impossible as it sounded, it had completely faded from the cavern and all that was left was Sasuke's writhing body as he continued to fight whatever forces were waging war with his mind. Zetsu had flat out disappeared, leaving the confused Kunoichi grasping at straws. She spun around, hoping to not give her enemy the upper hand, but her back was unnervingly empty, no one was hiding in her shadow.

~"The little one is scared," White Zetsu proclaimed happily, watching as the pinkette spun back and came face to face with the plant's towering bulk. He hovered over her, his terrifying jowls practically salivating from the meal set before him.

~_"We can't eat her,"_ Black Zetsu warned.

~"Aww, just a taste? She looks sweet."

~Sasuke started howling in the background, his voice falling on deaf ears as the splitting pain engulfed his entire being. He rolled around like a boneless fish, going into full body spasms as he screamed about some demon trying to tear his mind apart. He clawed at his head and yanked at his hair, oblivious to all else except for the torture.

~"Ahh, and the prodigal's sister arrives."

~The pinkette's spine stiffened involuntarily. That voice, that horrible, smooth, silken voice of a god jabbed maliciously into the center of Sakura soul, ripping it apart at its stem and shredding it away from her body. She didn't dare look to her right, hadn't the strength to see his abhorring gaze turned upon her—raping her— but she knew she had to. It took all her willpower to regard him with anything but bitter hatred and loathing disgust. The memories he'd instilled in his goddess sister were like shimmering tide pools, rippling with feeling and chained emotion. If the pinkette hadn't kept the ancient aqua witch on a tight leash, she was positive Ganimaru would have come barreling to the surface, all dragon rage.

~Kazechi was wearing the traditional Jounin ranked Shinobi garb of Cloud country, the only sign of his Akatsuki roots was the red-clouded cloak wrapped tightly around his tree-truck thick waist. He had a feral look in his deep, storm-cloud gray eyes that seemed to edge scarily close to rampant insanity. A twisted smile had formed at the corners of his upturned lips and near knee length, thick black and charcoal colored hair shifted around him in some unfelt breeze. Everything about him screamed dangerous, the kind of frightening dangerous that most people ran from in an instant, but Sakura had nowhere to go. He was an imposing figure, enough so that even from more than fifty feet away, Sakura couldn't help but cringe when he took a purposeful step towards her. His nearly seven foot tall height towered over many, and his solid, thick body hadn't an ounce of fat on him. He could have killed her with just one of his overly large hands.

~"Keep away from me," she spat venomously, a touch of raw panic lining the edges of her lilt.

~"But sister," he whispered, voice oozing a strange charm Sakura had to shake her head to free herself of. "I've waited all this time and prepared so many things all for your imminent arrival."

~"I don't give a shit!" The Kunoichi hissed.

~"What a disturbingly disgusting mouth you have, little girl," he smiled almost sweetly, although it made the medic want to wretch, "it would look better if it had a cock shoved in it." His outline suddenly blurred and disappeared, his chakra essence vanishing into thin air.

~Sakura gasped audibly, taking an unbidden step backwards. Her back came in instant contact with a muscle-hardened chest and a pair of overly strong arms that wrapped around her waist. There was a moment of uncontainable terror that struck the Kunoichi completely paralyzed because she felt him tighten just slightly around the lives she carried inside her. Knees buckling, her own strength unable to keep her standing, she fell limply into the grip of her enemy.

~"Swooning for me all ready and I haven't even gotten undressed," he felt her struggle, the remaining vestiges of her survival instincts finally coming to a dulled jerk here and there. She was giving up, becoming complacent to her fate and to Kazechi he wanted nothing less.

~"Don't…" She had whispered more, but her voice didn't carry any further then her lips.

~"I can't hear you, sister. Speak up," he leaned in close to her face, being nearly two feet taller than her the size difference nearly hunched him in half.

~"Don't hurt my sons… please." Her eyes stung with tears, feeling something akin to numb despondence shriveling up her emotions, but a tiny piece of her that still wanted to live, that needed her children to stay alive, beat furiously within her.

~"I'll come quietly if you don't hurt them."

~Kazechi had the audacity to appear appalled by Sakura's suggestion that he would harm her unborn bastards or the pinkette herself, although sarcasm lined his voice as he spoke, "I would never do such a thing. If you behave, I'm sure this relationship will work out _perfectly_." He rose up, straightening his spine and raising himself to his full height. His hands pushed her forward slowly, going passed the black and white plant creature, Zetsu and stepping over a groaning Uchiha.

~They would have kept going—Zetsu following in tow—when a firm grip snatched up Sakura's ankle and held her fast. "Don't," Sasuke gasped out, his face beet red from the building pressure in his brain, a stark, blue colored vein showing on his forehead, "don't let him take you."

~"Be quiet, pet." Kazechi flung out his foot and smashed it into the Uchiha's face. Sakura gasped and shrugged off the god to kneel down beside the bleeding Shinobi, hugging him close to her chest.

~"Stop it!" She was begging, "I've all ready said I would come. Why did you have to break his nose?" Her fingers were all ready reaching for a wadded up handkerchief in her pocket, but the ancient wind deity grabbed her wrist tightly, the fabric rustling to the floor.

~"He is only a toy and now that his usefulness has run out, he's nothing more than a broken has been. I should kill him now, let the beast his former master put in him completely destroy his mind."

~Sakura's eyes widened in surprised fear, "no! Please, don't let it kill him." She had gently set Sasuke head back down, turning to face the affluent god and grasping the front of his dark blue flak vest front, "I'll do anything, just don't let him die."

~Kazechi smirked haughtily, "you've all ready pleaded for the lives of your children, now you beg for the life of this murdering rapist?" He came lip level with her ear, "you'll have to make the deal sweeter. Make me want to release this animal from my clutches."

~"_Anything_," she breathed out, unable to hold back the tidal wave of tears. They trickled down her cheeks and spilt onto the man's vest, she was breaking apart without any clear thinking as to what to do next. Everything had gone from being easily understood, back before this whole ordeal with gods and goddesses began, to being an utter mystery. She didn't want to be in this position, begging for the life of the man who had helped bring about not only her shame, but the socked away feelings she had fought so hard to keep hidden. He was the reason for it all; her hurt, her dishonor, her rage, _everything_ and yet she wanted him to live. Somewhere deep inside her, Sakura wondered if she didn't actually enjoy the kind of torturous agony the Uchiha inflicted upon her. Maybe that was why she always seemed to go against all sane minded thinking when it came to the youngest Uchiha son.

~A low breeze fanned across the ninette's cheeks, some odd raise in the chakra levels had brought it on and she could feel it floating all around her like a stifling blanket. Suddenly, Kazechi licked her earlobe, taking it between his teeth and holding her still while a thick, large hand wound up tight in her pink tresses, yanking them tight. He buried himself into her neck, inhaling deep the bittersweet taste of fear, sweat, and female scent. He traced a line of glimmering saliva down her pulled taut neck muscles and eyeballed the glaring Uchiha with glee. There was a feeling of pure loathing that passed between the two males.

~Finally, when he had finished his teasing, the god opened his up his hand, palm facing the now motionless Shinobi whose face was leaking blood everywhere. He centered a few blue-gold strands of threaded chakra at the center and proceeded to pull something out of Sasuke.

~The younger man coughed rabidly, a retching sound managing to make it passed his lips as something the color of inky purple made its way out of his mouth. It warbled and writhed like a dark snake, oozing darkness that plopped with an audibly hiss to the rock flooring. In an instant, Sasuke seemed better, his face was no longer scrunched in paralyzing pain, his body stretched out had slowly begun to relax as the waves of numbness and blood loss were beginning to catch up to him.

~Kazechi yanked Sakura back to her feet from her kneeling position and dragged her along the long corridor of their underground layer, gliding passed the unconscious Shinobi without a second thought.

~_"Master,"_ Zetsu called, standing above Sasuke with a hungry look in his two toned eyes. He wanted to eat him.

~"Leave him."

~"_Master, he might escape and—"_

~"—Go back to Konoha to warn the others."

~"Let him, we have what we need. There's nothing they can do now, we've won." The god continued to shove Sakura along with him, their outlines disappearing down the hallway not long later, the darkness completely swallowing them up.

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**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

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~A dull ache from his head, face, and leg awoke him and he struggled unsuccessfully at first to open his eyes, but they were fused shut by dried blood and pained tears. He rolled over on his belly, listening to his surroundings with slow intakes of breath. Off a few yards away he could hear water and he crawled towards it as the insides of his brain began the sluggish repair of his shambled thoughts.

~The rolling off waves of steam heat hit his face first, but Sasuke ignored it and dunked his head into the aquifer without testing the water's scalding temperature. He rubbed his face gingerly, careful to avoid the now screaming pain in his nose, knowing it was broken.

~When his eyes finally opened and he took in the cave from earlier, things started to align easier in his mind. He remembered Zetsu chasing Sakura down the hideout passageway, the god making himself known, and Sakura pleading for his life. Her crying voice still racked his brain like a migraine, and he knew he had to save her. It was his fault for being this weak, for allowing his inner demons to take over and force her to this end.

~On the thought of the hiding monster caged up in his mind, Sasuke swiftly sprang to his feet and searched listlessly through the inner recesses of his rolling mind, but froze when he came to booming realization that there was something missing. A part of his mind that he'd come to tolerate over the past few years was inexplicably gone. He didn't feel any weaker, apart from the blood loss and apparent exhaustion, but the foreboding feeling of sharing a mind with something else was gone. His head felt surprisingly clear, like a cramped space that had suddenly been given a good scrubbing. _The demon was gone._

~A nearly sickening wave of overwhelming relief flood his senses and electrically charged his body. The loss of the demon hadn't rendered him weaker as he had originally thought it would, he was still as strong as ever, likely more so now that he didn't have to strain with mental chakra locks to hold back the monster.

~He tightened his hands into a fists a few times, testing the strength in them before turning his attention towards the cave's passageway. There was no way he was going to able to defeat a god, especially not when that god was backed by a multitude of other highly powerful ninjas, mainly; Madara and Pein, two men he'd been privy of during his short time in the Akatsuki with Orochimaru. The others meant little to him. They were fodder for doing childish errands rather than actual muscle, but Sasuke highly doubted in his current condition that he was going to be able to readily take on the remaining Akatsuki members—plus a god—without help.

~The decision was difficult and he regretted having to make it, a battle of his churning emotions turning his insides sour. He was going to have to leave Sakura in Kazechi's clutches, it would do no one any good if he tried to save her and ended up getting killed in the process. On another note, he wondered if any of the village Kages even knew where this place was, _he_ didn't even know where he was and he'd brought Sakura here.

~He flickered down the long, darkened passageway, bypassing other intersections and turns, ignoring every one of them. Something in his consciousness drove him on a particular pathway, egging him on. He had to be faster, needed to find a way back to Lady Tsunade, she would know what to do from there.

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**Sakura Haruno: Age 19**

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~The pinkette didn't struggle when Kazechi roughly lifted her up in the air by her wrists, didn't want to give the ancient, incestuous brother of her inner goddess the satisfaction of seeing her fear. She didn't want to allow the old, male deity a chance to scoff at the fact that Ganimaru had retreated so far into the darkest corners of Sakura's mind that even the emerald eyed Kunoichi couldn't feel her. For all intensive purposes, Sakura Haruno was utterly alone in the large stone-marble room filled to the brim with frighteningly odd, scientific equipment she knew would be used to either torture her or someone else.

~Her eyes darted around wildly, taking in the still bloody weapons of torment sitting in a puddle of ruby colored liquid that was swiftly crusting as it dried. She noted the flat stone table adorned with leather straps made for holding down prey during some kind of grotesque ritual that could harm and maim. A frigid chunk of ice formed in the pit of Sakura's gut and she couldn't control the urge to vomit anymore, turning her head away to let loose a barrage of foul bile across the ground, this only serving to make Kazechi bust out into bellowing hysteria. He laughed so hard, he almost dropped his captive and threw her none too gently across the room.

~"Your pathetic human charge, Ganimaru, is vile child. You should have chosen someone else." The god had stalked over to a table full of electrical equipment, picking up a drill-like device that Sakura had only seen in the morgue. It was used to drill holes into the human skull—or other body parts—in an effort to get to the tissues beneath, and added to the saw-blade poking out from underneath his arm, it only made Sakura jerk in terror.

~"I can smell your fear," he whispered lowly, having turned away to organize his mess of torture devices, "your disgusting human body reeks of it." There was a mindless moment where the god came towards the trembling Kunoichi with his bloodied weapons in hand, and she went blank, unable to think, move, or speak. Although, it only lasted a lingering second before the mothering instincts of the pregnant medic kicked into overdrive and she was a fighting lioness hell-bent on protecting her own. She flailed out with a banshee-like shriek, knocking the bone drill from his hands and scrambling out through the only exit.

~Kazechi was warbling with laughter, eyes flicking to the fallen torture device across the room. This was going to be fun, a great deal of anguish-filled fun. He flickered after her in a heartbeat, eyes lit wildly with caving insanity. It had been ages since he'd felt this excited over a chase, like a hungry tom-cat chasing a wounded mouse.

~Sakura flew down the spiraling stone staircase in flash of pink tresses. She screamed passed the barred doors of other prison rooms, some filled, some not of other jailed inmates, spying some wooden door she hadn't yet seen the backside of yet and slammed into it with all the force of runaway freight train. The door splintered under her power and split open, allowing the young nin to break free to the other side. She stumbled when her right knee buckled and was sent sprawling to the floor in a mass of flailing arms and legs. A trickle of blood dribbled down from the deep gash the door had caused on her knee and it screamed in pain, forcing a heated hiss of breath to come through her tightly clenched teeth.

~"So helpless," Kazechi murmured, beside her in an instant. He grabbed a handful of her dirty pink locks, tinged with blood, dirt, and grime and lifted her off her feet, "you're a filthy beast. Not fit to be the my sister's container." His hand flicked her roughly away and she slammed against a nearby wall, sliding down it when gravity finally took effect.

~The pinkette curled herself together, tightly holding her knees as close to her chest as she could manage, the thrumming, wild beat of her heart felt like it was going to burst from her chest and she fought in vain to quiet it. Within her, the small, still growing Uchiha sons were awake and pressing against the confines of their jumbled prison, struggling for some way to be free of their painful quarters.

~She prayed hard, calling on whoever was listening to help her, begging them to protect her sons. Nothing else mattered, just the life of the babies she had grown accustomed to carrying. Their weight inside her meant something invariable more than just herself, and for the first time in a long time, she felt like she deserved to live.

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Author's Note ~ Sorry if the ending seems… off… I think so too… I had to leave for about 3 weeks for work and couldn't bring my fiction with me, and when I came back the idea I had running through my head was nowhere to be found and I had to scrounge together whatever misfit sentences to scramble to an end so I could give it to you guys and form the next chapter. I'm sorry, I'll do better next time. As always please let me know of grammar and spelling mistake so I can fix them immediately and R&R your thoughts and stuff! Thank you!

Lady A.R.R.O.


	30. On the Wings of War

_**Author's Note**_ – Laptop crashed, took a hiatus to nurse a concussion after I fell from my horse last week, and spent time bitching at a new laptop screen that didn't wanna do what it was told. All in all, it was a pretty normal, non-fanfiction finishing August and September and October. Apologies and I am now back on track.

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PLEASE BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR MY NEXT S/S SHIPPING CALLED "WHERE INNOCENCE DIES" and "CRACKED SHIELD". I'm sure many of you will fall in love! See the bio on it in my profile. And thank you for still reading! ((Even though I can't seem to keep my deadlines))

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**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden.

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**Chapter 30**  
**On the Wings o****f** **War**

_"All war is deception,"_  
Sun Tzu

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**Shikamaru Nara Age: 21**

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~Of the original rookie twelve, very few of them had made it to a Jounin, even fewer to ANBU status. Shikimaru Nara was one of those that hadn't made _either_. It wasn't that he lacked the brains, everyone knew better. It wasn't that he lacked the strength, most who knew him personally equated his power and Shinobi prowess to rival a Hokage's upon occasion. It was that he was eternally lazy, finding even the slightest amount of effort on anything that didn't directly interest him,_ bothersome_. But there was one thing he would have gone to the ends of the Earth for… well, _someone_ actually. She came in the form of a tall blonde with a decent rack and a nice ass.

~He watched her every move, the fluidity in every action became an entrancing obsession he didn't want to be freed of. She was his sickeness and his medication, a good balance of good and bad.

~"You know, Shikamaru," the blonde laughed out, taking his cup of sake and drinking it down before he could complain, "you shouldn't be here seducing me, that's not your mission."

~The dusty black haired Shinobi sighed softly and poured himself another drink, uncoiling his crossed legs beneath him to lift himself up the threadbare few inches to reach the object of his attentions. He kissed the pliant soft lips of his tan-skinned lover, reaching up with his free hand that was not holding a cup, and forced her closer even though she lazily tried to pull away. It was an entirely half-hearted gesture.

~"I'm waiting for orders from your brother," he whispered against her lips, his hot breath drawing shivers to come screaming to the surface of the woman's body. She collapsed to her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck, things were becoming increasingly difficult for them as time wore on. With the upcoming war, preparations being made, and endless troves of fear abound, neither Shikamaru nor this blonde princess of fans had been given much time to themselves.

~"In the morning," she breathed out, almost inaudibly. "In the morning we start our march." Her arms wrapped tighter around him and Shikamaru followed in suit, setting down his sake glass to relish in the feel of this awe-inspiring, beautifully curvaceous woman.

~The blonde pulled back, her dark green eyes full of worry and glittering with hiding tears. This wasn't just some random moment of weakness, she didn't have those. This was an anxious, agonizing worry for all those men and women out there scrambling together to see their loved ones one more time before they set out to war. Hundreds of thousands of warriors; Shinobi and Samurai and fighters alike, tomorrow would leave the safe-haven of their villages, their cities, their towns to go to war to protect something far more important than their homes. An army amassed of this size were all coming together to protect their very right to survive and live.

~"Promise me something?" she pleaded quietly, holding him in her gaze for a long few moments until he finally nodded. "Promise me, you won't die."

~Shikamaru chuckled shortly and released his woman long enough to fall back onto the cushioned floor, staring up at the ceiling and debating over his next words. "You're as subtle as a rhino in a glass shop and scarier than my mom," his dark eyes fell back on her and he smiled even though she looked raving mad, "if I died, you would come haunt me even in death… I promise I won't die."

~"Thank you," she gushed and fell on him, burying her face into his shoulder as the tears finally came.

~"… I… I love you, Temari…"

~She froze, unable to say anything for a long time and when she felt the Leaf Shinobi sigh in annoyed embarrassment she pulled her head back long enough to smile brilliantly, "I love you too."

~From the narrow, clay-molded doorway the sound of someone snorting disdainfully and a clearing of throats came to the lover's ears, and they both spun around to find Kankuro and Kazakage Gaara staring them down with raised eyebrows.

~"Get out!" Temari barked loudly, leaping to her feet as quickly as gravity would allow. She flew to the door, about to slam it in their faces when Gaara's ashen face froze her solid.

~"He has the Itamihi scroll," Kankuro said quietly, passing his startled sister the rolled up slab of parchment with the broken chakra seal. She instantly unrolled it and began to read of the neatly scribbled words sent over from Leaf, every second her expression growing paler.

~Four set of eyes suddenly fell, this was one of the worst pieces of news anyone could have possibly gotten a day before they were to march out to their destiny.

~Shikamaru rose to his feet and drew closer to the Sand Siblings, keeping gaze with the red-headed Gaara, realizing something the blonde woman did not, "there's more."

~"In the attack upon Leaf for the scroll, the Akatsuki members managed to break out Kisame and kidnap Itachi," Gaara said without a shred of emotion.

~"He wasn't fucking kidnapped," Kankuro muttered bitterly, turning his face away from his sister and her lover. "He took the six-tail with him. Now they have two gods and four Jinchurikis. This day just keeps getting worse."

~No one spoke for a long time, merely stood in the engulfing silence and absorbed the darkening situation that was steadily becoming worse and worse as time dredged on. It was finally Gaara who spoke first, realizing he needed to fill the uncomfortable quiet.

~"Nara, I need you to head my third army division tomorrow."

~"We're still going to march even though we're out matched?" Shikamaru asked incredulously.

~"Suna is _not_ going to do down without a fight."

~Shikamaru blinked as he stared down at Gaara, taking in the glimpse of insanity hiding just barely underneath the surface of the Jinchuriki Kage's tepid colored eyes. The Shinobi of Leaf suddenly grinned. He shook his head and wrapped a gentle arm around Temari's slender waist, "_bothersome_," everyone grinned if only slightly.

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**Deidara Age: 23**

* * *

~He hissed like some feral animal when a medic from Stone tried to clean his ragged wound, nearly reaching out to snap at the frightened woman with his gnashing teeth. It wasn't until an angry Tsuchikage Onoki smacked him nastily on the back of the head that the once Akatsuki member stopped and looked away pouting.

~"It hurts, _yeah_," Deidara growled out, "that Hokage from Leaf did a better job than this bitch." He jerked when an alcohol doused cotton ball touched his still healing stump. The past nine weeks hadn't been kind to him as he healed the _natural_ way, as per a discipline set forth by the Tsuchikage himself in this dank rat hole the ancient man called his home.

~Onoki whapped the boy on the back of the head again and turned his attention to the quivering medic, "make it burn, Ren. I want him to think over his betrayals." The woman looked at her Kage with incredulous eyes, cautiously glancing up at Deidara and finding the blonde man still glowering down at her with heated intensity. There was a warning in his eyes that if she wasn't careful, no amount of staying power from the Kage would save her. She listened to the ex-Akatsuki member instead, he seemed to be more of a viable threat to the young woman's health at the current moment.

~Deidara looked pale, paler than was healthy, but he was doing better than the fever filled weeks before the infection had been finally beaten down. It was only this morning that the high body temperatures had broken and allowed the relatively young Shinobi male a chance to think more coherently, having been under the clawing grip of trembling nightmares for far too long.

~The blonde shivered uncontrollably, even as the lingering heat from his fever still sat in the darker recesses of his mind. He remembered vividly Madara and Itachi's spinning Mangekyo amidst his nightmares, the howling laughter of the self-proclaimed God, Kazechi, and the screaming cries of a horde of bleeding dead all begging to be left to rest. As the days had dragged on into weeks, and the weeks into months, Deidara felt the oncoming war dredging on closer. The unmatched strength of Kazechi's army was growing more powerful by the day and all of the civilized cities of this known world knew it, building up their forces to combat this coming evil ready to wipe them from existence.

~A sickening knot was forming in his gut as he wondered if the gathered strength of all the hidden villages and amassing armies from all over would be strong enough to combat a god, but the odds continued to look grim.

~A Stone ANBU stepped forward from a shadowed corner and knelt before the short Tschikage, handing the white-haired man a scroll. Onoki took it with a nod and waited until the ninja had gone before opening the rather beaten up parchment. As he read, his older façade seemed to grow paler and paler, an unreadable expression streaming across his ancient, all-seeing eyes.

~"Please leave, Ren," Onoki ordered with finality, the woman looking up curiously for only a moment before politely nodding and stealing away through the closed door.

~"What is it, old man—"

~"Those bastards almost got Han," he hissed through rows of clenched white teeth. His fist crumpled the scroll and he threw it against the opposite wall in a fit of rage. "We march out tomorrow and they wounded our only container."

~"The Jinchuriki, yeah?" Deidara lifted his remaining pale hand up to cup his bandaged stump, wincing when even the slightest pressure felt like a thousand daggers digging into the nervous system's pain receptors. Though, aside from the small facial twitch, the blonde made no other expression. He was more interested in the happenings of their country's last remaining tailed demon.

~"Han's injured and the dolphin horse can barely be contained in the condition he's in. He'll be of no use to us in the fight tomorrow unless I can find him and bring him to Leaf to be healed by their Hokage." Onoki crossed his arms over his chest in deep thought, struggling for the right course of action in a time like this.

~"So, go get him," came Deidara's ever so easy answer, "we need him, yeah?" He watched the ancient Kage nod, the old, grizzled brows drawn together in a formidable expression.

~Suddenly, as if lightning had struck the older man, Onoki jerked his head towards the ex-Akatsuki member and smiled chillingly, "I can't leave. There are too many preparations to be done."

~Sensing something was very amiss in his old teacher's expression, Deidara moved his body a cautious few inches backwards, "so send one your ANBU bitches, yeah."

~"I think you're well enough to get out of bed today, Deidara," the Tsuchikage murmured, fingering his triangular beard and pulling lightly on the wispy whiskers as the darkly churning thoughts swirled about his head.

~If the bombs master could have paled any more, he would have. His face was all ready completely drained of color and held tightly onto a near sickly green tint from the earlier fever, but he managed enough life to fling some choice few obscenities at his old sensei and throw the blankets at the man.

~"Fuck that! I'm not your errand bitch!" To add to his comment, Deidara flopped his grotesque stump around even as the bleeding started up again and stained his bandages a fantastic scarlet, "I'm missing an arm, yeah! I can't do it!"

~Onoki growled fiercely and grabbed the younger man's blonde ponytail angrily, yanking him down to his much shorter level, "now you listen, whelp. I'll let Ren heal you so it doesn't hurt anymore, but only if you do what I tell you to." This perked Deidara's interest if only slightly and he huffed in a small tantrum until—at length—he agreed.

~In whirl of motions and frenzied movements, Ren was brought back in and ordered by her village's leader to heal the traitorous double-crosser. Though if she had any qualms about it, she didn't utter a word about them. She wasn't nearly as efficient as Tsunade of Leaf or as powerfully accurate as Sakura Haruno, but she did her job well, much to Tsuchikage Onoki's approval and Deidara muted appreciation.

~She bowed to the two men and made her way to the door, pausing at the threshold and looking back at the long-haired blonde for a fleeting moment before darting down the hall and away from the two chattering men.

~Deidara had grown an attitude over being forced to go find Rock's missing and injured Jinchuriki, but was angrier still when three other ANBUs were given the mission as well and were told blatantly in front of the moping blonde to keep an eye on him. It was infuriating and there wasn't a damn thing Deidara could do about it either. He simply grumbled his displeasure and loaded together a small pouch of clay at his hip before trying in vain to cross his one arm.

~"Why do I have to go, wrinkles?" He growled, instantly receiving a jumping smack to the back of the head with enough force to make the mouthy young man reel slightly.

~"Punishment. Until I see you've been properly disciplined, you're going to do as your told. Missions included."

~"So stick me in prison, yeah!"

~Onoki's thin, cracked lips drew up into a feral smile, one of those creepy grins he used to give Deidara and his Genin team years ago. It never failed to send shivers up the boy's back, because it always meant Onoki was thinking something innately evil. "You'd like being in prison with all those other ninja dropouts too much. This is a far better punishment."

~A shade of dark, livid color splashed across Deidara's face and he looked as if he was about to argue something fierce, but Onoki signaled for the others to leave and they took to the pathway without a word, nearly leaving the ex-Akatsuki member to stand on the road out of Iwagakure like a moron. He hissed and flipped off his teacher as he raced after the others, feeling as if he'd accomplished something in that little gesture. If anything it had made him feel better.

~Stalking after the others, it was apparent by their distance that they all had some great dislike of being paired with one of the greatest bomb masters this world had ever seen. They ignored Deidara like some mildly neglected grandparent needing to just die in their sleep. Every now and again a signal or word was passed between the three in front of him, never anything he could understand, but he guessed they were talking about him.

~The terrain was harsh in and around Iwa, taking a close resemblance in country to Kumo, though there were less mountains, less lethal ravine drops, and more water, it was still a climate that very few could tread at high speeds.

~Deidara could barely keep up in some aspects, darting up a mountainside after his forced upon companions. Something inside told him they were purposely making this trek as difficult as was humanly possible for the still recovering Shinobi, the soldier pill he'd been given hadn't fully kicked in yet and that problem alone was making it hard to keep up.

~The ex-Akatsuki member debated strongly towards using his chakra clay to shape a bird for comfort's sake, but wondered vaguely how that would go over with his countrymen. They could attack him, thinking he was trying to attack them and even with as much power as the blonde possessed, he hardly thought he would be a match for three ANBUs in his current bod condition.

~"Hurry!" One of the ninja soldiers ordered obnoxiously, and just to annoy them, Deidara's pace faltered if only slightly, much to their dismay and his own delight. The irritation grew thick in the air, but the blonde ignored it and their relatively short journey came to a close near Howling Peak where Onoki had said Han usually homed.

~The men were cautious in their approach, even Deidara sensing the nearly tangible waves of chakra energy warbling around terrifyingly in the air. Something was definitely amiss, the small group's concern only growing the closer they drew to mouth of the dark cave.

~From inside, the men could hear an animal's dying wail and every few seconds the ground beneath their sandaled feet shook violently as if shuddering from some great attack.

~"You go," one of the ANBUs ordered, grabbing for Deidara's healed stump and thrusting the man forward like some chunk of rotting, discarded meat.

~All in an instant, the incessant pounding ceased and the animalistic howls went silent. It was as if the monster dying within the cave's gaping mouth had suddenly become painfully alert to the intruders upon his home and meant to spring when opportunity allowed the soonest second. Only the hissing sounds of the wind rushing through the sparse trees lining the peak's jagged rock face made any noise. Even the powerful strands of searching chakra leveled out to a dulling drone.

~For a moment, Deidara gawked at the cave's pitch-black opening, feeling a needling in his spine that closely resembled fear. He closed his mouth and shook his head at the degrading emotion, putting a foot forward and drawing closer. There was a pause in his step every few feet as if to test the restraint the bellowing monster had.

~"Jinchuriki Han?" Deidara called out as he neared the opening's edge, but silence continued to buzz throughout the cave. "I'm from Iwa, Han. I'm… a friend, yeah."

~There was warbling laughter that chuckled through a set of demonic lips and a brightly lit pair of ocean blue eyes danced amidst a backdrop of blackness. "A friend? Of the towering giant, Han?" It sounded masculine and deep, almost as if there were two demons speaking in unison, but Deidara knew better. He'd heard his ex-boss' retelling of Han's escape, knew that the five-tailed dolphin horse used its double corded voice box to get himself out of sticky situations. The demon would trick the mind into looking in the wrong direction until the wall of boiling hot water was too close to avoid and one's body would literally be cook to death.

~"I'm here to get Han to a healer, yeah."

~"Han?" The demon asked with mirthful laughter showing through, "you spiny devil you. Getting a message to that damn hobbit of wrinkles in Iwakagure. While I was sleeping I'll bet." The eyes turned back towards the cave's entrance, seeing Deidara's spying gaze struggling to look deeper into pit of darkness. He was cursing under his breath over the loss of his scope, hardly anything the water horse was interested in.

~"Now why would a demon be interested in healing its host? When this stupid human dies, I can claim this territory as I did eons ago."

~Chewing on his lower lip, the once Akatsuki member debated over his next words carefully, saying something wrong could only enrage the demon further and that wasn't something himself or the ANBUs watching were able to handle at the moment.

~"Because Kazechi will absorb you if he finds you."

~That name held power, a kind of staying power that that forced a frightened streak of raw emotion to dart across the demon's gaze. He knew of Kazechi, knew what the god of the winds could do to a powerful demon like himself or the others. The only difference Irukauma felt separated him between the others of the broken ten-tail and himself, was he was cautious and smart; a promising combination that allowed him to remain alive as long as he had, even as Baheneko, Goku, and Kabutomushi fell at the hands of the chasing god.

~"For what price?" Irukauma warbled out, knowing that no human would directly aid him without first putting forth a trade.

~"There's a war, yeah. We need all the help we can get to kill Kazechi."

~The five-tail began to laugh, a bellowing sound that shook the sheer rock face and forced the mountain to tremble. "Kill a god? You think puny humans can manage such a feat? You must be stupid."

~"We have the other scrolls, yeah! They're gonna help us fight."

~"How many?" Irukauma chuckled out, "one? Two? You're going to need more than that to defeat the master of winds."

~Deidara looked back towards the still hiding ANBUs, sensing their apprehension even from this distance. They could hear the conversation and felt the high-strung tension in the air, much more of this and the ex-criminal might be looking at more than just a demon trying to tear out his insides. He decided against telling Irukauma about the Goddesses Kazechi all ready possessed, it would only make the situation at hand more dangerous.

~Breathing in deep and gathering his courage, Deidara tightened his remaining hand into a fist before plunging into the dark void of the cave's mouth. Cast into the infinite shadows, the blonde could see nothing in front of him, even as the light from the daytime outside tried to beat back the living shade.

~"You are either very brave or very stupid," a new voice said maliciously and a sound like screaming steam blew hot air in the blonde's direction, the heat fanning across his face at near scalding temperatures.

~The first noticeable thing within the cavern's depths was the heat. In moments, Deidara was sweating, the perspiration wetting his black Shinobi clothing to an uncomfortable damp.

~"Neither, I'm just an artist, yeah," he answered back and drew closer to the voice, feeling the pulsing chakra of a weakening heart beginning to quicken in pace. "Han?" He called and the man grunted as if in pain.

~"He's fading fast," Irukauma sing-songed, the glowing eyes kept careful track of the intruder with mirthful intensity.

~Deidara reached into his pouch and pulled out a small flashlight, which he used to push back the swirling darkness. It pulled back in foggy clouds, a demon tail here, a monster foot there until the criminal could finally see the object of his mission.

~Han was a large man, even bigger than Kisame by a near foot and from the skintight armor, had a fair amount of muscular tone to him. If he had been standing, Deidara was sure he would have been a severely imposing man. He was a terror in his own right, even without having to see his face, which was covered, like most of his body, in a tight red suit. On his back was a smoking furnace that pumped out billows of dark ruby steam, most of which collected around the five-tail in a shrouding blanket that seemed endless.

~The Jinchuriki was bleeding, that much Deidara could tell. His gut had been slashed open and despite the molding smell of old eggs from the stink of sulfur in Han's back furnace, there was a foreboding stench of rotting flesh that made the hairs on the blonde's neck stand straight up.

~"Can you stand?" Deidara asked, knowing full well that he wouldn't have been able to carry the towering man without some kind of help and he didn't trust the ANBUs to do much.

~Han struggled to climb to his armor plated feet, his gloved fist clenching his bloody gut. He nearly made it to his feet several times, using his free hand to scale the wall, but every time his knees would shake and buckle, sending the towering ninja to the floor with a debilitating crash that left the blonde wincing.

~Finally unable to watch anymore, Deidara moved to help, grasping Han as best he could around the chest and hoisting the man to his unsteady feet. They wobbled precariously for a moment before making their unsteady way towards the beaming light of the exit.

~Deidara winced as the blinding rays of the sun burned into his retinas, though after a moment of blinking and feeling them water up, he managed to catch a glimpse of the noonday sky. It was a high risen orb against the dark storm clouds coming this way. The horizon looked lethally ominous and foreboding.

~Han's legs were shaking so hard they both thought they would fall, but Deidara managed to hang onto his mission's objective, even against the odds of size. He glanced around for the hiding ANBUs, cursing at them for doing what they did best, _disappearing._

~A bird chirped above the duo from in the trees and the wind rushed up the mountain's ledge with an all too familiar sound, but something seemed off. There was something definitely wrong and it wasn't just that Deidara's ANBU comrades weren't answering his blatantly rude call.

~"It's quiet," Han whispered edgily, his red smoke demon nodding in agreement as he swiftly crawled back into the steaming contraption on the giant Jinchuriki's back. In an instant, the screaming steam went silent, bottled up by the guarded five-tail.

~The engulfing silence dredged on, second after second, each moment as unnerving as the next until a sudden flash of action flung the two Shinobis to attention. There was a glint of silver and a piercing clash as a kunai screamed through the air and bounced off Han's thick steam armor.

~Deidara moved fast as another weapon came at him, barely able to avoid the thrown kunai as he struggled to keep his loosening grip on the heavy Jinchuriki.

~"Where are they coming from?" The demon from inside Han's furnace bellowed out, a scream of steam rushing from its container and spreading out on the ground like a blinding red fog. It encompassed both the blonde and its Juinchuriki host, forming a smoggy protective barrier that smelled too much like sulfur and animal musk.

~Another kunai flew through the air and hit the red cloud, harmlessly embedding itself into the thick physical barrier, whose texture has taken on the shape of an overstuffed marshmallow. It bounced off and thudded to the rocky earth harmlessly with a muffled clattering sound.

~A few yards away, just beyond the hiding darkness of the sparse tree-line a twig snapped, alerting the already on edge Shinobis of some new presence they had yet to decipher the identity of.

~"Show yourself, yeah!" Deidara shouted, a trickle of nervous sweat carving a painfully ticklish pathway down his overheated neck.

~"Don't you recognize us, kid?" The deep guttural tone of Kisame came barreling through the foliage followed in tow by the apparent sounds of someone grunting and struggling against roped confines.

~The blonde's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, his pupils dilating in the sudden rush of adrenaline that pumped its way up and down his spine. "K-Kisame?" He breathed out, almost losing his grip on Han altogether, but he managed to hang on by some miraculous miracle.

~"I'd heard you were alive from Itachi, but I didn't believe it until now," the fish man chuckled out heartily. His billowing, tattered Akatsuki cape caught a rouge gust of wind and it blew his collar about his face, allowing Deidara to see the mutilated flesh of Kisame's neck and face.

~"Yeah…" The explosion's master breathed out, wondering what tortures Leaf had put his old comrade in outlaw arms through. They didn't seem like a village that would torture their prisoners, but then again Deidara didn't know Konoha well enough to make that distinction.

~From behind Kisame, another shadowed figure drew from the enclosing darkness and sprang forward with listless ease, dragging along some kind of struggling weight. It was Itachi, that damn Uchiha that had bested the art guru so many years ago and clasped tightly in his grip was another one of the Jinchuriki's Deidara had seen only from afar back on Kage Summit.

~"I thought you changed alliances, Uchiha," Deidara nearly snarled out.

~"Part of the ruse," Itachi returned emotionlessly, slamming the edge of his fist into Utakata's jugular, watching without an expression as the man locked up and tumbled to the ground in a dead faint. He was quick in picking the demon container up to throw him over his shoulder, returning his gaze back towards the yellow-headed Akatsuki member as the red and blacks of his Sharingan dizzyingly twirled.

~"Ahh, finally," Kisame muttered, "you should have done that sooner."

~"I didn't want to carry him."

~"Well, I guess neither did I."

~"What are you two doing here?" Deidara asked, interrupting the duo's annoying back and forth banter. If they wanted to have a domestic chitchat amongst themselves, they could do it later when all the questions had been asked and the answers laid out.

~Kisame grinned ferally, his sharp, jagged jowls taking on a lethal appearance as he glared back with his gnarled face up at the blonde, "we're here for the Jinchuriki. We were going to bring him back to Kazechi, but I didn't expect to find you capturing him all ready."

~Suddenly, in a flash Deidara's mind was spinning. There was no stopping Itachi's swirling Mangekyo from permeating his mind and setting him almost on full tilt. A flash of old memories screamed through him, followed in tow by newer ones, like the more recent ones about the fight on Kage Summit and about the failed attempt to steal the God scrolls and more Jinchurikis.

~_"I don't want to die."_ It was the one phrase in Deidara's mind that had been replaying itself over and over again during the near slaughter of himself from the pink possessed Kunoichi. Those words had never rang louder or clearer in his mind than they did right now and if Itachi and Kisame knew that Deidara was out here _helping_ a Jinchuriki rather than aiding them in their capturing of them, he would end of dead before this dead was out.

~For a moment, the blonde Akatsuki member debated his other options. He could run, but he was sure that without the free range of his clay abilities and his lack of energy due to the sealing jutsu on his remaining hand, Kisame and Itachi would hunt him down without much effort. If he just handed Han over without a word the two before him would wonder why Deidara wasn't accompanying them and they probably still kill him.

~As much as he disliked Kazechi and found this plan of gathering together god scrolls and Jinchurikis a fool's errand, Deidara liked being alive. He enjoyed being able to continue thinking of ways to sculpt his art and how to make the one-second masterpiece explosion bigger and better. And also… Itachi hadn't told Kisame about his defection back to his own country, it was fishy and Deidara knew it wasn't just the way Kisame smelled.

~"Yeah, I got him." Beside the blonde, Han visibly flinched but made no other movement. The raging betrayal in his eyes rang out loud and clear and Deidara wanted to tell the towering man that he had a plan brewing in his blonde brain, though he couldn't for fear of being found out. The ex-Akatsuki member just had to play this whole scene out as it came. It was by some grace of Kami that Irukauma remained as silent as the grave, an unnerving prospect.

~"You'll have to carry him, yeah. I'm running low on chakra," Deidara informed coolly and it wasn't a deception too far away from the truth. He was in fact exhausted, but he knew he could probably have lugged Han a few hundred miles, though the need to conserve his energy was at the forefront of his mind if he was going to be able to deal with whatever big and nasty problems were at the end of the journey.

~"We won't have to," Itachi lowly mumbled and dug around in his side pack for a sealed scroll he'd taken from Kisame when he broke the giant shark out of prison. "We have a teleportation scroll."

~"Lucky, yeah." Deidara's eyes bored lethal holes into Itachi for a long time, the uneasy feeling of something not quite right with this whole situation was bothering him fiercely, but he pushed it aside in an effort to keep up the fake act.

~Itachi didn't say anything else, and thankfully neither did Kisame. The Mist Shinobi took the offered scroll and unrolled it, cracking the heavily laden chakra seal with a resounding _pop_ before motioning Deidara to draw closer.

~It took a second for the blonde to respond. His overwhelming irritation at the quickly darkening state of things was beginning to make him flighty, but he reigned in the fear as he struggled to not give into his desire to flee like a runaway dog. He had to trust Itachi, his gut told him that, even as much as he didn't want to.

~Kisame's fingers moved effortlessly into the correct jutsu positions, having done this particular warp on several occasions, as had his current companions. The scroll lit up in a bright red color, power coursing through it as the black ink that had written the symbol seemed to jump from the parchment and into the air, before disintegrating into a billion tiny black air particles and disappeared. Below their feet a similar symbol formed, stretching enough to encompass the five men, conscious and unconscious alike and transported them to their preordained destination.

~As the power of the large teleport faded away and left the standing males gasping for breath, they each looked up to discover the lair of their new hideout had taken a drastic change from the others they had inhabited before. It had all the lovely amenities of some deranged Frankenstein castle, from the molding walls dripping with moisture and age old water, to the very terrifying rack of gory torture devices none of the Akatsuki members had seen before, nor wished to understand further.

~A loud, feminine shriek of pain echoed down the corridors and gripped tight to Deidara's mind, almost sending his mind on tilt. He remembered his earlier days as a mercenary, before he'd grown the stomach for murdering women, and remembered how gut wrenching it was to hear the amount of frightened agony just one woman could exude. It almost could take a man to his knees if caught off guard.

~"They've finally arrived," the distinct lilt of Black Zetsu came like a clashing gong in Deidara, Itachi, and Kisame's ears, startling the men even though the cannibalistic plant Shinobi had barely breathed a word louder than a whisper.

~_"It seems so,"_ White Zetsu agreed, his child-like tone seemed playful and happy. Something was up and the Akatsuki members knew it. They turned to take in the Venus fly-trap ninja and found him to be munching happily on the body of some poor sod that was likely the leftovers of some experiment Kazechi or Kabuto had thrown away after the human's usefulness had run its course. It was impossible to tell if the body was male or female either, too many pieces were missing.

~"We should inform Master," Black Zetsu said to his counterpart, but his mind sharing companion was too busy devouring another limb of rotting human flesh to notice his opposite had spoken a word.

~"Don't get up, Zetsu. We'll do it ourselves," Kisame said good-naturedly, hoping to not have to share the plant's company longer than was necessary. He may have been from the village of the Bloody Mist, but he was still human… well, had the remains of someone that was once human, and he didn't like sharing Zetsu's presence anymore than was needed. He couldn't deny the black and white ninja_ thing_ gave him the creeps.

~Zetsu, both Black and White sides of him, shrugged off his comrades without another thought and went back to chewing happily on the flesh he was currently devouring. If he wasn't needed, he wasn't leaving. He'd all ready spent too much time helping his master without a decent reward, for all intensive purposes, Zetsu had earned this meal and he wasn't about to allow himself to be dragged from it.

~Kisame inched his way out of the torture chamber room soundlessly, dragging an unconscious Han with Itachi and his load, and Deidara behind. The heavy metallic and wood door closed behind them ominously, latching shut and keeping the cannibal inside its walls.

~"That was disgusting," Kisame muttered irately, trying to fill the voided silence with some kind of banter, but neither the blonde nor the oldest Uchiha seemed to be in the talking mood and the shark-man just left it at that, shifting Han's position on his shoulder until the dead weight Shinobi was more comfortably set.

~Even though Itachi had never formally seen this particular hideout before, he knew just where he was going. They all did. The oozing, evil chakra from the God of the Winds beckoned out to them, pulling them in further and further into this hellish nightmare castle raised from the dead earth underneath this place.

~The endless hallways and never-ending sets of doors seemed to go on into infinity, effectively boggling Deidara until he didn't know what way was up or how many stories and flights of stairs they had climbed until they came to this one room that held all the imposing aura of the menacing god.

~Deidara came forward to reach for the ornately carved doorknob, hearing the eerie sounds of people screaming and the echoes of death and pain coursing through the bowels of this castle, but the knob turned on its own and the heavy door rocked open by itself, leaving the explosion master's hand only a breadth's distance away, frozen in fearful awe. His eyes traced up and took in the bloody grandeur of the terrible room before him, stifling a stricken gasp when things pulled straight from a horror movie seemed to clash in on his reality.

~Kazechi stood, dressed in a white apron and gloves covered in blood, beside another person with gray hair and glasses. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize who the god's surgical partner was, but it didn't lessen the grotesqueness of the situation.

~On the operating table was the ebony black goddess Shisora. Her diamond twinkling skin sparkled in the beaming light of the high-powered bulbs above her. She was motionless, her snow white, pupiless eyes staring up into the infinity of forever, even as Kazechi and Kabuto cut into her flesh with lethally sharp scalpels and removed jet black flesh covered in a thick viscose blood as blue and dark as midnight. She didn't utter a word, not a sound. It was hard to even tell if she was breathing, but the ever slow rise and fall of her chest told the onlookers that she was alive. Or as alive as goddess in that kind of state could be.

~Kazechi turned his vicious glare upon the intruding Akatsuki members, expecting Zetsu or Tobi. They had been his ultimate headache these past few weeks of late and he wasn't about to be interrupted while finishing his last and final masterpiece. The war began tomorrow, he'd seen what Ganimaru had seen. Had yanked that piece of vital information from the shrieking Kunoichi as she hung upside down, drenched in her own blood and the blood of others.

~He had to admit though that this pink haired annoyance had been tough. His goddess sister of water had picked her vassal well this time. A smart, pretty girl who didn't bend easily under harsh torture. Ganimaru's only mistake was picking a woman who broke too easily when Kazechi threatened the lives of her unborn children.

~"We've brought two more Jinchurikis," Itachi said emotionlessly, dropping Utakata unceremoniously to the floor with a dulling thud. The man was still unconscious, his nose bleeding now from the rather unnecessary abuse.

~Kisame grinned with his sharpened spike teeth, adding his load to the pile on the floor with a bit more delicacy than was offered by his teammate, backing away cautiously in case the god felt it necessary to have a whirlwind of a tantrum for any reason.

~Hardened, steely gray eyes focused on the Jinchurikis before moving up to Itachi and Kisame, his gaze lingering only for an extra second on the Uchiha, before drifting to Deidara hanging out behind his two taller companions. The blonde looked ready to bolt at any sign of danger, an exasperated look plastered to the young man's face that resembled the mouse just before the trap was sprung.

~"Good," Kazechi hushed, his voice like a whispery, summer breeze, "you can add them to the chrysalis chambers." He turned back to his work, shooing Kabuto away like an insolent fly. He was going to finish dissecting this manmade goddess himself, to figure out what exactly made her tick and he didn't need the transformed, Shinobi drop out to aide him any longer.

~Kabuto nodded without a word, peeling his blue bloodied gloves off with a sickening smacking sound as the latex clapped together and was thrown in the garbage. He untied his butcher's apron and set it on a table opposite the operating table and strode passed the three others. With his paler than normal hands, he motioned for them to follow and they did so, grabbing their loads with some grunting effort.

~"Did you?..." Kisame whispered in Itachi's direction, unable to finish his sentence. He meant to say, _Did you see his eyes?_... But he just couldn't finish. The initial shock of seeing Kabuto's changed appearance from what he had been only a few months ago wasn't just shocking, it was out right macabre. Not that the rest of this nightmarish place wasn't, but it just seemed like things kept getting weirder.

~The Uchiha nodded without saying anything. He had seen, there wasn't reason to comment more on it. In the beginning, Itachi had thought he'd had an idea about the war and what it would entail; fighting undead relatives, resurrected monsters, tailed beasts that had been ripped from their hosts, and even a god or two, but not this.

~_"Kabuto merged with Orochimaru,"_ the oldest Uchiha's mind danced in a whirl of strange thoughts. He had seen the remains of the snake Sannin shortly after Sakura Haruno had torn him to bits, had left the pieces behind and destroyed the cave entrance to keep the curious out and yet, here was the snake and his little follower, together… forever… It churned Itachi's stomach to think of the intricate atrocities of Orochimaru's and Kabuto's relationship and just how close the reptilian Sannin had come to his beloved little brother.

~Involuntarily, Itachi shivered and though he fought to mask it, struggling hard to keep his heated gaze from looking suspicious, a tiny bit of his discomfort showed.

~"I see you understand what I am, Itachi," Orochimaru's voice cooed out from between a set of garishly grisly grayed lips that quickly upturned into a feral smile. "Don't you like the change?"

~The oldest Uchiha said nothing, merely swept his gaze across the small hallway as he appeared impatient to be done with this whole ordeal with Orochimaru/Kabuto, whatever _it_ wanted to call itself.

~"Very surprising to even see you back," the snake's pink tongue hissed from between his lips playfully, but to avoid injury he continued leading the three Akatsuki members towards their destination. "I thought you had joined your old village again. At least, that's what Kabuto's memories tell me."

~"A feint," Itachi said without a shred of emotion. He was back to being his old self, avoiding the distraction of feeling anything. It made his reassimilation into the criminal organization easier.

~"I'm sure," Orochimaru chuckled and turned his attention towards Deidara who had remained as silent as the dead alongside Kisame. "Too bad about your arm, Dei-Dei. Does it hinder you fromanything _necessary_?" The hidden double meaning in his voice on that last word almost threw the blonde into a rage, though Itachi's dark eyes pierced him and forced the younger man to remain in control of himself. The disgusting, sexual insinuation that only the snake Shinobi could achieve may have been infuriating, but the Mangekyo wielder was far more terrifying then Orochimaru could have ever been.

~"I can still create art, yeah."

~"I'm sure you can," the evil snicker made Deidara almost growl, but another frightening glare from Itachi thrown over his shoulder cooled the tempest.

~Orochimaru went quiet when he realized no one was sharing in his little jokes, as sordid as they were. He clasped a barred door suddenly and flung open the heavy wood behind the metal clasps, inside lay more torture devices, but what set this room apart from the hundreds of barred cells was the cylindrical tubes lining the walls. Nine in total, all with spiraling piping connecting themselves to the center of the room where a white, almost coffin-like case full of oozing green liquid boiled and bubbled.

~"This is the lord's most magnificent creation!" The snake creature said ecstatically. He spread out his arms in ardent conviction and slithered over to the aqueous fluid. His fingers brushed the surface of the bubbling solution, watching transfixed as it rippled away from him and suddenly went completely calm. The glassy surface reflected Orochimaru's changed façade, with Kabuto's face, hair, and glasses, but the Sannin's eyes and strange attraction in appearance to his reptilian counterpart.

~A black tongue hissed from between his gray toned lips, forked at the end like some lizard devil. He looked up at the standing three Akatsuki members with a sultry look as a sardonic smile upturned the corners of his mouth, "watch what happens." His interest turned back towards the murky water that only seconds ago was boiling with vigor and licked the surface with all the intensity of a spell struck lover. He lapped up only a few drops and waited, the cloudy gloom shifted suddenly as if coming to life and snarled at Orochimaru, shoving the monstrous man backwards while he laughed.

~From the coffin's shallow depth a shadow formed and sprang up from its confines, its wriggling outline fighting to shape into something Itachi and the others could more understand. A sound like twisting metal grinding against one another made its way to everyone's ears and while the shark man, the blonde, and the Uchiha winced at the piercing noise, Orochimaru continued to cackle and laugh, dancing around the coffin like some crazed lunatic.

~At first, the fluid took the shape of a human being, growing more feminine features as the seconds ticked by. Her hair trailed down her curvy spine and a pair of large breasts took shape much to the satisfaction of Kisame, he took in an eyeful of the nakedness with fervor. But it was the swelling of the unknown woman's belly that gave Itachi her identity, the pregnant bulge and that quickly coloring pink hair.

~When Sakura's eyes came open, they weren't the dazzling emerald greens Itachi knew so very well, they held the same appearance as the torn open goddess Orochimaru and Kazechi had been tearing to pieces back in the operating room; white, pupiless, unfocused. Sakura's mind was so far away from her body right now the oldest Uchiha wondered if she would ever come back to herself, all that seemed to be left behind was the dazed shell of her former self. The soulless body and perhaps a glimpse of the quickly fading goddess within.

~"Isn't she beautiful!" Orochimaru giggled disgustingly, "she's almost perfect! The almost completed!" He spun around in dizzying circles and drew up against her, practically hugging her leg.

~Sakura's entire being trembled from the touch and her mouth fell open into a silent scream, her visage taking on all the countenance of a woman in agony, but no sound came out. Her mouth was simply a gaping, black hole.

~"All she needs now is the Jinchurikis!" The snake Sannin raced over to Itachi's side and snatched up Utakata from the Uchiha's shoulder with over enthusiasm. He tugged the unconscious, still bleeding man to one of the white, glowing tubes lining the wall and slammed him up against the side. At first sight, it seemed like the six-tail would wake up. He groaned in pain, the slowly drying blood on his face from his nose had finally stopped flowing and was beginning to crust on his upper lip and chin. But his head lolled to the side and he fell silent again, no more than a dead weight against Orochimaru's _borrowed_ body.

~"You three watch," he almost whispered, his voice going soft like the breath of a lover. He pushed Utakata's head against the tube, the glass outside shimmering bright before suddenly becoming transparent and liquid. It sucked in the slug five-tail and enveloped him, encasing him in the thick membrane as veiny spindles of growth stretched out from the floor and ceiling of the chamber to reach out to grab him. They started off harmless, melding themselves to the Jinchuriki's skin, becoming nothing more than attachments of the man himself, but all too quickly the threads became malicious. Their spines dug in deep into Utakata's body and began to suck the life out of him.

~The man screamed, his garbled voice blocked as liquid filled his mouth and all the oxygen escaped from his lungs. He was drowning, zapped of his strength and energy… and slowly drowning.

~Orochimaru skipped around happily, coming to Kisame's side and holding out his hands for the next Jinchuriki. The water horse, Han and Irukauma. There was a long pause as Kisame debated the horror he'd just seen and the knowledge of what was going to happen next. The inner struggle of what was right and wrong seemed etched on his face, but his demons won over in the end… Well, the demons and maybe the thought of denying leading him into being just another victim.

~Kisame handed over Han without a word and watched in muted disgust as the changed Akatsuki member dragged him viciously to his apparently number tube right next to where Utakata's tube was slowly fogging up. The dark haired man had become still in the water and his eyes hung open, as did his gaping mouth, the telling signs that death had sunk in.

~"_NO_!" Something bellowed from inside Han as Orochimaru tried to set Han against the crystal glass that had begun to pulsate as its victim drew nearer. _"You swore!" _It continued to scream, _"you swore to protect us, mother! To never let us die!"_ A red fog jettisoned out from Han's steam contraption and Irukauma came spraying out, shrieking and foaming at the mouth.

~He was weakened from his battle with an Akatsuki member a day or two before, and it didn't help that Han wasn't healing or restoring at the normal rate a Jinchuriki should have been, but Irukauma wasn't going to let his weakened container's state allow the demon to be possessed. He'd been contained to a body, that he could handle. He'd been forced to live a life as an outcast in the body, that too could be understood and managed. But Irukauma wasn't about to go quietly into the night like some passing spook that mother's told their children before bedtime to ensure good behavior. He was the five-tail, and on top of being the five-tail, he had formed a bond with Han, something so inexplicably deep and vast that even now, he wasn't about to allow his container to be hurt or killed.

~The red cloud became a physical thing, shoving Orochimaru back with as much force as it could muster, throwing the paled man across the room and into a nearby wall. It didn't stop there, bellowing and screaming like a crazed horse ready for blood, it levitated Han into the air and pulled him into the shifting center of tornado fog, hiding him from view.

~Kisame was the first to move, darting back from a thrown kunai the color of blood. It imbedded itself in the concrete floor and dispersed like a cloud, if it had struck home, Kisame was sure it would have severely wounded him. He watched on as Itachi merely dodged carefully, moving only inches from the left or the right, exuding the barest amount of energy possible.

~There was an annoyed second where the shark man rolled his eyes, realizing how little Itachi actually did in the way of fighting, only doing so when things seemed to be bad.

~"Hey!" Deidara yelled frantically, barely diving out of the way of another thrown weapon going too fast for the eye to see, and dispersing just as quickly. He fluidly rolled to his feet, clutching his stump. The fall had jarred him, but not enough to miss the next barrage of flung weapons from the enraged tailed demon fighting for its life. And for some reason, the blonde hoped he would keep on fighting until its very last breath, something he wasn't sure he could do himself.

* * *

**Tsunade Senju**

* * *

~She took back the scroll she had given to Jiraiya, eyeing him carefully, "it's all ready." Her voice was firm, yet held a soft, almost tender quality in it that bespoke much to the man before her.

~"You're exhausted, Lady Tsunade," the toady sage observed, "you should get a few hours rest before the morning. You know you'll need it."

~She shook her head, "I know many of the men and women out there won't be getting any shut eye because they're all afraid they won't be coming home. I refuse to give myself anything they can't have."

~Jiraiya hardened gaze grew weary and worn, the past few months had been difficult on both of them, had only added to his wrinkles and hers. Before this war would be over he knew they both would have a few more wrinkles too if not a few more gray hairs. He looked at Tsunade's still blonde tresses and debated over it, he'd probably take the gray hairs for both of them.

~"Please, Nade," he breathed, watching her tense up at the adoring nickname he'd given her a long time ago. She looked like she was about to fall over, the soldier pills would help when they were needed, but it didn't mean that it would save her when her body had nothing more to give.

~"I haven't had the fortune of your company in awhile and I would be an idiot to not request some now when the preparations have been made and the necessary precautions have been arranged." He knew he had her when he spoke so eloquently, it was just his old man charm that did her in every time.

~"But…" She was silenced when Jiraiya took her hand and pulled the busty blonde towards him, "come on, Nade. I need a sleeping companion and the couch does look comfortable." He motioned lecherously towards Tsunade's office couch, which conveniently pulled into a hide-away bed that she frequented on those nights when she couldn't get away from the office.

~"You old pervert," she mused with an exhausted laugh, lightly, playfully smacking him in the shoulder.

~"Would you have me any other way?"

~She appeared to be at a loss for words, staring up into the wise, dark brown eyes of her secret companion in both life and love. A smile touched the corners of her lips and she laid her head on his shoulder, taking in the warmth and soothing aura he exuded. This was her bit of paradise, the only place she felt truly happy and she prayed that when this was all over, she could step down as Hokage to drag this truly perverted lecher somewhere where they could live in peace, playing shougi, gambling, and drinking the rest of their useless old age away.

~Jiraiya spirited his golden-eyed Aphrodite to the couch, pulling away from her warm embrace for only a second to pull out the couch cot and climb on top of it. He beckoned her to follow, which she did with a long sigh.

~With the two tangled gloriously together, the upcoming war merely a back thought on their mind, they nestled down for a short nap that they both desperately needed.

~The engulfing silence of the room was the first sign to Jiraiya that his buxom goddess wasn't sleeping, and he knew she was thinking heavily on everything to come, the pros and the cons of it all. The very meaning of life itself it seemed.

~"Would you stop it, Tsunade," he whispered, although he couldn't understand why he was, there wasn't a soul left in Hokage Tower. Everyone including Shizune had been forced to leave for visits to their family and the gathering of supplies. The whole of Konoha seemed dead and deserted.

~"What," she almost hissed unkindly.

~"Just sleep," he sighed, hugging her tighter to him.

~"Do you think Sakura is sleeping?" Her voice had diminished in its defensiveness and seemed wrought with worry. "I will never forgive myself if something happens to her."

~"Do you doubt your student's abilities, Tsunade?"

~The blonde shook her head, she honestly didn't, but that didn't mean that she didn't think something bad could happen to her. Hell, that stupid Uchiha brat had taken advantage of her and got her pregnant. If she didn't think the village needed to keep the damn Sharingan ability around for future generations, she would have castrated both of those brainless, irresponsible, irritating Uchihas. At least that way, she could had assuaged her own guilt for not protecting Sakura better before the poor girl got pregnant, and maybe it would have prevented Itachi from defecting— for the second time— like she somehow knew that bastard would.

~It was perhaps only a miracle that Sasuke had stayed in Konoha at the _strong_ behest of Naruto and Kakashi, although she was sure that choking arm holds the two had put the rampaging younger Uchiha brother in, had helped him make the more clear-minded decision.

~"I'm afraid I've underestimated our enemy," she said hopelessly, "I-I…" She seemed unable to finish, a first for her and she felt defeated by it.

~"You're afraid we won't win and everything will be lost? Including Sakura?" He watched Tsunade nod, her normally clear eyes fogging up with rising tears she seemed unable to choke down.

~"I've done so much, so many bad things-"

~"And good," Jiraiya interjected.

~" 'And good,' " she repeated, "I don't want everything and everyone to die. I'm sick and tired of losing people to wars. To this stupid job. I've lost too many friends, too many relatives… too many loved ones." She reflected briefly on Dan and Jiraiya knew this. He knew that no matter how much he loved her or she loved him, he would always play second fiddle to the white haired man who reminded them both so much of Naruto. And it was funny, only because Jiraiya didn't care. He wanted Dan to always be in the forefront of Tsunade's mind, knew it shouldn't be any other way. He was grateful for the time he got to share with her, and the times she allowed him to be there for her. She meant more to him than anything else.

~"We can't lose this battle," Jiraiya said finally after a long pause, "we don't have a choice. We have to survive, we all do. Even Sakura. She will be fine and in a few years you'll be called Baba-san all over again by an even younger generation."

~Tsunade gaped at the lecherous old sage and punched him in the arm, watching him wince and smiling in spite of her depressed mood. She hoped it caused a bruise, the damn man deserved it. The nerve of him even thinking anyone would be allowed to call her "Baba-san" it practically oozed disrespect. She couldn't believe she allowed Naruto to get away with it the times he did say it, that idiot Dobe. Although, the more she thought on it in the dark, in that silent office room, on that couch cot, with the man she adored more than anything else beside her. She wondered if she didn't think the sound of that nickname wouldn't suit her from the mouths of grandchildren. Children who came from a young woman she considered as close to a daughter as one could get. It comforted her and she finally drifted into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

* * *

~He had brooded silently on his own in the pits of his house's confines, angrily stewing over the unspoken house-arrest he was under until Hokage Tsunade called for him to join up in the fighting ranks tomorrow at first daylight. He had packed and unpacked and packed again everything he intended to take with him, making sure his load was light. For some reason he had a gut feeling he wasn't going to come home from this, not with his angry intentions raging so viciously inside his churning gut right now.

~Inwardly a stampeding rage of white-hot anger bounced off his inner walls, though onlookers who didn't know him well wouldn't have known. Sasuke Uchiha seemed to be the epitome of outward calm, with his hunched over position on his black sheeted bed, legs crossed Indian-style, and his elbows placed with purpose on his knees. He appeared to be thinking, and thinking he was… over what he was going to do to his brother when he got his fingers around that bastard's neck.

~He couldn't believe that man had come back to Konoha under that factitious guise of innocence, even gotten Sakura to believe him and dredge up some kind of false evidence to support his claim of purity. The elders, as much as Sasuke hated them and was glad they were dead, he wished reverently that they had set him to death. He wished he had been the one to end Itachi's miserable excuse of an existence.

~Sasuke growled heatedly, startling a shadow from the hall. It was Suigetsu, standing alongside Juugo, both had been freed from the Konoha jail so long as they were under Sasuke's supervision, a giant leap of faith from the Hokage, but Sasuke knew the two remaining members of his team weren't much of a problem. It was the blonde annoyance sitting out watching the rising moon on his front porch that would be the issue for him.

~"You should sleep, Sasuke," Suigetsu said, gaining the courage to stand his leader's temper and rage. "The fighting starts in a few hours and we all need some rest." He was given no answer, not even a grunt of acknowledgement.

~"Sasuke," Juugo murmured from the doorway, his bold, masculine voice commanding attention. "You won't kill Itachi if you are tired." The large Shinobi was right and it was his calming voice that seemed to hold a kind of effect on the brooding Uchiha, enough so that the black haired Shinobi looked up and nodded.

~It wasn't just Itachi that nagged the back of Sasuke's mind though. Sure, he was furious at his older brother, but something inside him had said that he would never truly forgive that man, whether he had murdered his entire clan or not. It was the sparkle of cascading pink and a flash of emerald green that kept his mind a wrapped up mess of flyaway thoughts. It was the nagging feeling that something was terribly wrong and there wasn't anything he could do about it. He wanted to go to her, to protect her, save her, bring her back here with him. He didn't know what kind of a life he could offer to her, if he could offer one at all, but these past few months without her had seemed like the longest in his life.

~Since she had been shoved most unfavorably back into his existence, he had found himself becoming more and more wrapped up in her spell. He couldn't deny his need and want for her to be a permanent fixture in his life anymore than he could deny the air his lungs needed to keep his body functioning. What was worse was that he knew this uncomfortable feeling was growing bigger and more unmanageable by the day.

~He wanted to share something with Sakura, though she'd be waiting a lifetime to actually hear him say it to her out loud. He wanted to ensure the safety of his off spring, as unexpected and wholly surprising to say the least as they were, though the more he thought about Sakura carrying his children, the more pleasing the idea became. On a genetic note, Sakura was a perfect candidate, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of her as a carrier of his children sooner. Though on a more personal note, he couldn't think of anyone else bearing him a new line of Uchihas with which to restore his clan to their former glory.

~"You're thinking too hard, Teme," Naruto's voice cut through the silence of the room like a hot knife to butter. The other two had left Sasuke to his own devices when he hadn't seemed to wholly heed their advice, but they also didn't have the tenacity that Naruto seemed to for annoying people that really shouldn't have been annoyed.

~"Hn."

~Naruto leaned against the doorframe to Sasuke's room, arms crossed over his chest. He seemed as awake and as lively as Sasuke himself felt. There wouldn't be any kind of sleeping tonight.

~"So why are you here?"

~"I wanna know what your plan is."

~Sasuke's eyes narrowed on Naruto harshly, practically searing him through, "I don't have a plan." That was a lie, of course the great Sasuke Uchiha had a plan, though whether he was going to include Naruto into that plan had yet to be determined.

~"Don't fuck with me, Sasuke. You know as well as I do that you're going to go after Itachi when the fighting starts, and when you do, whose going to help me go after Sakura?"

~A cruel thought goaded Sasuke's temper, but he managed to rein it in, "what makes you think you can save her, Dobe?"

~"I think she's the only thing that god has that'll help him win this war. If we can save her, we win." The look on Sasuke's face read skeptical bewilderment. He honestly didn't think much of Naruto's intelligence, and was baffled by this train of actual clever minded thinking. "Plus, I want to save her. I miss her."

~Sasuke was back to thinking the worst of the Dobe and growled lowly in disgust. He couldn't believe Naruto could still have feelings for someone who clearly didn't have them for him in return, yet Sasuke had seen the way Hinata Hyuga had continued her one sided infatuation with Uzumaki even years later, and without the slightest hint that her feelings were returned.

~"I know how to get into the castle," the Uchiha said at last, turning his body to face the Dobe's and the blonde returned the gesture with rapt interest.

~Their planning went on for hours, lasting clear into the night. It wasn't until the moon as glided across the top of its nightly pinnacle and was now on a downwards descent that they reached the end of their discussions in lieu of more needed matters. Sleep, something they hadn't the slightest interest in pursuing, but knew that it had to be obtained. In the morning when the amassed armies of the hidden villages and warriors from other countries joined together, there was going to be chaos. When every battle trained—or not— peon managed to reach the gates of hell, there was going to be bloodshed and then there wouldn't be any thoughts of rest or anything of the kind. The only sleeping that would be done would be by the fallen bodies of those who weren't strong enough, who couldn't fight long enough or hard enough. Those would be the people, men and women, who would be taking a long dirt nap.

~Naruto lay on his back, hands stretched behind his head on the cot that he'd pulled out from underneath Sasuke's bed a few days prior. He stared up into the gloom of the shadowed ceiling and sighed loudly, forgetting that others were trying to rest.

~"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke growled fiercely, "I didn't let you sleep in my room so you could keep me awake."

~"Do you think she's okay?"

~"Who?"

~"Baba-san… Sakura you dumbass. Do you think she's all right?" It was one of the first times Naruto had gathered up the balls to call Sasuke anything like that in a long time and though he wouldn't allow the Dobe to make a habit of it, he let this one slide.

~"She's fine."

~"Aren't you worried about her? What does that piece of shit want with her? I mean, why go through all this trouble for her?"

~"She has the goddess scroll inside her. If someone else had Ganimaru Hibiki , I'm sure Kazechi would have gone after them."

~"You notice that Sakura gets into trouble a lot? We're always going after her for something."

~Sasuke had noticed this. He noticed this quite often and he supposed the reason the pair of them kept going after her was because of the friendship bond with one another they each had, though sometimes he wondered if that was even true anymore. "You having second thoughts about saving her now?"

~"No, of course not. Sakura's our best friend, the one who heals us on our missions and cries for us when we can't do it for ourselves." Naruto had meant that last part for Sasuke, but it could be true for himself on occasion as well. He liked the idea of the short, pinkette crying for him, shedding tears of raw emotion for someone who hadn't been given a lot of that his entire life.

~"Then why did you bring it up—"

~"Do you love her?" Naruto broke in, finally getting to the nitty gritty of the issues that had lain festering inside him for months now. The Uchiha had played the cool-headed Shinobi; quiet, calm, and collected, even after he returned empty handed from Kazechi's compound when it was _him_ in the first place that had brought her there. Under a jutsu or not, it didn't matter, if Naruto had been in Sasuke's place he would have torn apart planets to have saved her. Nothing but protecting Sakura meant anything in the Dobe's mind and when Sasuke had failed to do that, gears had begun churning in his head.

~"I mean, do you even like her? Do you even_ want_ to save her?"

~Sasuke, who was facing his white painted wall had paused in thought for a moment, opened his eyes, and rolled onto his side now facing Naruto, "what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

~Naruto raised his gaze to give Sasuke a serious expression, one that read simply _"just answer the fucking question_," to which Teme replied with his typical, hardened glance, but the darker-haired Shinobi knew that wouldn't shut his blonde teammate up. Without an answer Naruto would say or do something incredibly stupid in some half-brained attempt to protect some invisible honor he felt Sakura had even though she wasn't even here to cry about the indignation.

~"Hn."

~"That's not an answer, Teme."

~"Go to sleep, Naruto, before I kick your ass out of my room so that I can." With that being said, the ebony head turned back towards the wall and yanked the blanket to his chin while his mind whirled with thoughts of Sakura and how much he was going crazy every second she wasn't by his side. What no one seemed to see or understand was the amount of self-control it took to leave Sakura in that hellhole while he went to get help. He knew there was no way, no amount of fighting that would have gotten her out of there and instead of dying trying to free her, Sasuke came back to Konoha to inform Tsunade of the castle's whereabouts, knowing that knowledge was needed. What the younger Uchiha hadn't counted on was how strictly forbidden he was to try to save her, or to enlist anyone else to help him do it.

~For a month solid, Sasuke spent his days and nights in the scenic, windowless room of a concrete cell, barred from using chakra or his Sharingan by holding tattoos. When Tsunade felt he had calmed down enough to not get himself killed by sprinting away to rescue maiden fair, she released him to the custody of Kakashi and Naruto, though it wasn't to say he didn't try to leave. Both old sensei and teammate held him down in wrestling chokeholds the Uchiha didn't know how to escape until he promised to listen to them. In the end, three months fluttered by at a snail's pace while Sasuke spent his days training and fighting with his older brother, his teammates, and most of the rookie eleven. He knew he was better than most of them, years of hardened training from Orochimaru had done wonders on his skills and fighting techniques, but a couple of the old rookies had became more skilled in his absence. Neji Hyuga and surprisingly enough, Kiba Inuzuka had moved from their Chunin positions to Jonins long before any of the others had, and from Jonin to ANBU shortly before Sakura's inevitable move to the Hokage's secret police. He still couldn't believe that his whiney, constantly crying teammate had managed a feat like that on her own strength, but brushed the thoughts away when he remembered the bits of Sakura ingenuity in her fighting style. She could've done it, had the brains and the strength to.

~It always seemed to come back to her. Every time he found something to put his mind elsewhere, he found himself thinking of the pinkette with a vicious tenacity that didn't suit his tastes. He didn't want to feel like every second away from her was a crushing blow to his heart and mind, but it was and the distance and time, and the constant worry about her didn't assuage any of his guilt.

~Sasuke got no rest that night lying on his bed in the morbid silence of the gloomy room, glaring at his wall ferverently while he stewed in the distress of his own up heaving thoughts. When morning began to peep its first sun rays over Hokage Peek, Sasuke had all ready climbed from bed and noiselessly made his way to the inner garden areas because Naruto and the others even stirred. He stood over the mucky pond he still had yet to clean, a lost cause now as he debated against the options of his return. Even if he did come home back to Konoha, things could never be the way they had been. He was still a criminal with a belated sentencing, and a deserter. The best Sasuke could likely hope for was a dishonorable discharge as a Shinobi, whose powers would be put under lock and key to prevent misuse of his abilities again.

~"That's no life," he growled out, turning away from the pond to avoid his own frustrating reflection, "no life for me… or Sakura." He didn't really have a choice, the likely hood of the youngest Uchiha returning home from this war was low. It all came down to fate at this point, he just hoped that stupid bitch was kind.

* * *

_**-Konoha-**_

* * *

~Konoha was eerily still as dawn lightened up the streets and pushed back the dreary darkness of night. She painted her first morning rays with vivid shades of brilliant reds, purples, and oranges, a touch of Midas gold springing to life across her canvas as the shimmering edges of the sun shown in hazy waves just beneath the mountains horizon line.

~Warming and life giving, the daylight orb glowed a hot, bright red, giving off the ominous appearance of a bloody sun. It was an omen to the coming battle, one filled to the brim with death and bloodshed. The signs didn't look good, but it wasn't going to stop the Hidden Village in the Leaves from protecting themselves.

~A door opened and someone stole out into the streets, a young Shinobi teenager possibly no older than fifteen. He wore the traditional ninja gears of a Chunin and behind him came someone else, someone infinitely older and of more Shinobi prowess, his grandfather perhaps or a great uncle. The door closed behind them as the soft sounds of a woman, a mother possibly, crying were quickly snuffed out. These two were the first soldiers of the war to come, they wouldn't be the last either.

~A house down from the first emerged ninjas also opened and a woman stepped out, followed in tow by what was most likely her husband. She was dressed in fishnet and Jonin attire, as was he. They turned to the open passageway and rained down gentle kisses on the foreheads of two still young children. An old, wizened woman, a grandmother, waved solemnly without a word and pulled the tearful toddlers back into the house as the door shut with a click.

~More Shinobis and Kunoichis poured into the quickly filling streets; mother, daughters, sons, fathers, uncles, aunts, even a grandparent or two lined the streets and sidewalks in trudging silence, not a word spoken out as they took to the road that led out of Konoha. It was like the march of those who knew they were going to slaughter. The truth of the matter was that many of them would be, even as much as they didn't want to be.

~A few familiar faces saw each other and crowded in close to one another, while a few masked ANBUs streaked across rooftops and through tree lines. The gathering crowd of ninjas and fighters was amassing, becoming a growing pool of faces of kinds and colors. This war didn't affect simply a few people of a particular background, it affected them all and all of them would fight together.

~At the entrance to Konoha stood a few well-knowns in the village; most well noted was Hokage Tsunade, standing tall and grim with her arms across her chest as her blonde hair that was neatly tied into a ponytail swayed back and forth in the morning breeze.

~Beside the buxom woman stood old Sage Jiraiya and the nine-tail Naruto, both of them had similar expressions of stern seriousness that seemed unreal. Their eyes scanned the growing crowd that was quickly going from a few hundred to several thousand, from ninjas to brawlers. Everyone who could hold a weapon or throw a heavy handed punch had come to honor the call of protection to their village. The scene before them was both awe-inspiring and numbing.

~Sasuke stood beside Suigetsu and Juugo as Lady Tsunade began to speak, and for once in his life of ignoring authority and scoffing those in power, he actually listened. It didn't have to do with respect, though the woman deserved it. It didn't have do to with the want to listen, he didn't have an interest in that. It was simply that the tone in that blonde woman's voice had a kind of siren's call that forced everyone within earshot to take note with rapt attention.

~"Good morning people of Konoha," she scanned the endless sea of faces; some scared, some tired, but all were listening. "I am grateful to all of you that have honored the call to battle, even those of you who are not official ninjas. I am grateful that you as a whole have put faith in me as a Hokage to steer this village in the good and just direction. This _thing_ that we face, this evil that comes to destroy us must be annihilated. So, I've called out to you as members of this village, from this place that is my home. Our home. I beg of you…" Her tone took on a pleading note, "please, do not allow the face of evil to stamp out the lives of our families, the lives of our loved ones, or our own lives."

~People stood in silence, simply watching Tsunade as she stared back at them with her endless pools of amber gold. The breeze shifted through the trees, a rustling sound upon the leaves they disturbed.

~Tsunade nodded to the men and women before her and turned on her sandaled heels, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Shizune in tow. "Ensure the division of the troops as I have laid out," she started, not even chancing a glance back lest the others see the weakness in her expression. She was breaking inside, could feel the sharp edges of her breaking soul tearing into her mind and heart as she tried not to see the oncoming blood and death that was imminent.

~The sage, the Jonin, and the medical assistant disappeared in a blur of quick motion, setting off to their assigned chores or leading their troops towards the preordained destination that Sasuke had mapped out for them months prior. This all rested now on the threads of fate to determine the way things would turn out in the end.

* * *

**Kazechi Age: Ancient  
**

* * *

~He lifted his bowed head from his hand, glaring at the intruder of his thoughts and found the orange-headed Akatsuki member Pein standing beside the stoic purple haired woman the god knew as Konan. They both weren't what met the eye and Kazechi knew this, could practically feel their souls crying out as they watched behind glassy eyes to the horrors the god had done to the people and villages that had once stood around this castle. This wasn't what they had wanted when joined the Akatsuki, but they had little choice in the matter now. If they left, they would be killed. If they failed to do their duties, they would be tortured and used as experiments. There was really no way out of this hell they had been seductively pulled into.

~"What?" Kazechi hissed out.

~"Everything is prepared, Master," Pein stated without a shred of emotion, "Ganimaru is under your complete control and all the Jinchurikis, along with Shisora and Itamihi-"

~"Do not use their names!" Kazechi screamed suddenly, freezing Pein in his tracks, even Konan gave a slight jump beside her lover. "They. Do. Not. Deserve. Names."

~Pein nodded respectfully, "of course, Master." He cleared his throat again and rephrased, "everything is in place. It all awaits your command."

~Kazhechi nodded and waved the two away, "go make yourselves useful." He didn't watch as they left, leaving him in the utter silence of the stone room with a resounding clock of the heavy wooden door.

~The wind had told him that the countries were on the move. He could feel the uprising of human souls as they fought his grand design and denied him as their leader.

~"It will not matter," he whispered to himself, even as the resonanting voice of Ganimaru's word echoed loudly in his skull, "I have it all. There's no way they can win."

~_"I don't know about that,"_ Ganimaru's voice wedged itself into the god's mind and he stiffened up, a kind of boiling rage overtaking him until he couldn't hold onto it any longer and smashed a bulky fist into the nearest wall.

~"Get out of my head!" He screamed, "you're not real."

~Ganimaru smiled amidst the disorganized thoughts of her _dear_ brother and chuckled inwardly, _"I'm as real as the insanity growing in your mind. I'm as tangible as anything you can touch, taste, hear, and smell. I am your sister and its time I started showing my sweet _brother_ just how real I can be."_ Her voice echoed within the confines of Kazechi's mind, reverberating down his spine until he could feel every inch of that demonic harpy coursing through him.

~The god punched the wall again as another wave of white-hot rage overtook him. He could feel his hand bleeding, but he ignored it, soon he would have everything he could ever have hoped for. He would have not only his revenge of his siblings for their transgressions against him, but he would also have their souls, their bodies, and their powers. Nothing was going to stop him now… _Nothing…_

* * *

__**Author's**** Note:**I tried to upload this a few days ago, but it refused to let me edit it. Which it needs desperately. Forgive the misspellings, the horrible grammar, and the few missing words. I will come back to edit this as soon as the fiction has been completed. There is only 1 more chapter before the EPIC epilogue I have planned. I do hope you'll continue your support in this fiction and others to follow. Thank you!


	31. In the Clutches of Hell

**Author's Note** – Well, I've almost done it. It's been a year and a half on this story and I'm pretty proud of myself for coming this far. I hope you all who've been there for me through this whole time, feel this story filled your imaginations with wonder and rapture. I hope the rollercoaster ride was worth the time it took to get to the end. I am grateful to you all for your reviews and your words of advice, wisdom, and support. It really means a lot to me to have that!

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**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden

* * *

**Chapter 31**  
**In the Clutches of Hell**

"_If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?"_  
William Shakespeare

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_**Sakura Haruno Age: 20**_

* * *

~The vast wasteland that had at one point in time housed life, was now as dry and arid as a dead desert, not even cactuses could grow in the poisoned earth. Sterile soil danced in rivets across the horizon, kicked up by the wind and let loose into the atmosphere without purpose.

~People had once lived here; villages, towns, cities, all wiped out without just cause. By a god who enjoyed the sounds of the wailing dying and bloody tortured. He took immense pleasure in capturing the men, women, children of this unprotected area and listening to their screams as he took their loved ones and in the end, their lives.

~Their bodies had piled high, laid to rest out in the very desert they had once homed in only months prior. Their unheard cries echoed loud into the oblivion of death, simpering for vengeance that no one, it seemed, could provide.

~Sakura found herself standing on the edge of a precipice, near the top of the castle's tower. Her body stood stiff, erected like some gargoyle statue watching and waiting and listening. Everything about her bespoke of true readiness. A readiness to defend this place, her master, and the twisted ideals the god had brainwashed her mind into safeguarding.

~Every now and again, a tiny shard of clarity seemed to ripple outward in her head, hiding behind the shimmering pools of overwhelming white washout. She looked down the castle's backdrop, the sun hot wind tore into her flesh like a thousand daggers, churning and thrashing her long pink locks about her face. She debated stepping over the edge, simply slipping to her death, but she knew better. Her body, whether alive or dead was useful to the god of winds, and the goddess within her refused to allow her to die, no matter how much she wished to. The spirit would and could easily have been lost, Kazechi had proven that with his other more mangled experiments before and after Sakura, it was the body and the powers that meant everything.

~There was an abusive ringing in the young Kunoichi's ears; a million screaming voices, a million crying souls begging to be let free. It was driving her insane to listen to them, her insides ripping to shreds every lingering second they remained, while her outside visage was a mask of complete serenity. There was no escape for her and sadly, as the sun was beginning to set on this last day before the predestined dawn of war, she realized that she would kill… murder so many of her own countrymen. That there would be no way to wash her hands clean of her transgressions from here on out.

~_"Tomorrow… I die… One way or another,"_ she thought quietly, just before the last dismal second of her grasped sanity suddenly flitted away and was lost in the down spiral of screaming voices all shrieking to be heard. In the last moment, as her consciousness dulled to gray as Kazechi's mind control over her switched back in place, Sakura pleaded like she'd never pleaded before, _"someone save me… someone wake me up from the dark."_

~Her slightly tinted green eyes faded back to white, the consistent control of her clouded mind had gathered again, shoving out the rays of crystal lucidity and all within Sakura, including the powerful goddess went dark.

~In the distance, just before the edge of fading sunset horizon came a line of shadows. A dark sea of objects drawing every nearer and the implicitly controlled Kunoichi knew, even in her hazy mind, that the amassed warriors to fight this war had begun to make their presence known. She knelt down as best as her foggy brained-body could, the eight-month belly of twins growing inside her a slight hindrance to her movements, but as Kazechi had said back in the cave those months earlier, he promised to ensure the safety of Sakura's unborns. Although, his promise held no bounds to what she herself could do to them in her completely complicit state. If she murdered her own children, Kazechi held no blame, at least in his mind.

~"Coming," she whispered to no one in particular, but a shade behind her, standing in the shadows just out of view of the low light, nodded and faded away. He had come without a sound and left without one, this evil monster under Kazechi's uncontested reign.

~She rose to her full height, naked as the day she was born and climbed back inside the window. Her hands fell limply back to her sides, slapping against the pale flesh of her thighs with a dulling smack. She stood in front of the heavy wooden, oak door, watched as it stood closed and locked, but that wasn't a problem. Along with Kazechi's control came a kind of roped freedom, Sakura's dreary psyche neither acknowledged with happiness nor caution. She hadn't the wits about her in her current state to understand, she merely did, merely functioned at the beckoned call of a crazed devil god whose reign was only beginning to be noticed by the rest of the world.

~The door suddenly swung open and behind it loped in a short statured man, dressed in the traditional Shinobi attire, decked out with a dark green scarf wrapped about his neck. His black hair stuck straight up with lazy purpose while a swirling orange mask bestowed with only one eye-hole covered the majority of the man's face.

~"I'm here to get you, Lady Ganimaru!" he giggled out, "you're wanted by our master." Behind the mask, his eye seemed to come forward from the abysmal black hole of the mask and inside it spun the Sharingan, the telling sign of Uchiha blood. He reached out slowly and took Sakura's hand, a gesture she didn't try to stop and followed him out of her cell towards the main throne room where both figures were sure to meet the fake god king. It was only a matter of time now, the sands in the proverbial hourglass had been set into motion long ago and the grains were beginning to run out for one side, but Sakura hadn't a clue as to which side the sands were pouring out for. They were simply running out of time.

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 21**

* * *

~The young Shinobi surveyed the scene before him, glaring on with muted disregard as the gathering troops of more than fifty-thousand men and women came together on the desolate, desert lands of Kazechi's claimed territory. To some, it might have proven to be a remarkable sight, but for the occupied Uchiha, the quantity of men on their side didn't outweigh the quality of men on Kazechi's. Most of these gathered people weren't trained warriors, at least not with the kind of training the hidden villages had. Sure, there were some Samurai from the Land of Iron, and warriors from all places, but many of the men and women present today weren't ninjas. Many of them carried rakes and shovels, tools of their trade. They wouldn't be of much use except to be fodder shields while the real warriors pushed through the ranks of Kazechi's line of men… undead… whatever he was using to fight.

~Sasuke saw Hokage Tsunade, who led the amassed army of the Land of Fire, stop her gathered troops as the imposing figure of the castle loomed only a mile or two away. About a mile to their left was the thundering accrual of the Land of Water, and to their right came the people from Earth Country.

~He was sure the Kage's of each village would lead their troops into battle, but there were menial tasks and preparations that—even now—needed to be completed. People needed to be informed of how they would go into battle, who would march first, and of course, who was in charge.

~Most of the Jonins had been named leaders of certain groups of soldiers, but there were several ANBUs taking on the responsibilities of captains in arms when it seemed the numbers of persons in charge was lacking.

~It was plain to see to anyone who took a moment to notice that most everyone here was scared, if not anxious. This fight… this war was truly bringing out the best and the worst in people. The best was that so many had the desire; the need to fight for their loved ones and their lives. The worst because everyone was utterly terrified and that lead to stupid mistakes.

~"This is going to be a slaughter," Sasuke remarked crudely, his traveling companions, Suigetsu and Juugo agreed without argument. They had been mostly silent throughout the duration of the journey here, which suited the Uchiha fine, he wasn't up for conversation. Although, Naruto seemed to find it utterly necessary to break away from Jiraiya's protection to annoy the Uchiha ceaselessly.

~"But you must have faith in those we are entrusting our lives to," Kakashi said suddenly, coming to stand beside his old student in his full ANBU gear. His dog mask was firmly tucked into place on his face, hiding his true identity from those who didn't know him.

~"I do not trust my life to anyone," Sasuke snipped harshly.

~"Not even those you consider your friends?" Kakashi made a nearly unseen gesture with a flick of his head towards Juugo and Suigetsu who were warming themselves by a fire with a few of the original rookie twelve.

~"They were a means to an end. I am no more their friend than I consider them mine."

~Kakashi cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest in mocking thought, "I don't think they hold the same way of thinking. I do believe they think they are your friends. And what about Naruto?"

~"An annoyance."

~"At times, but you can't deny that he was once your best friend. You might even say he's still your best friend, if not your _only_ friend."

~"Naruto was a way to become stronger when we were all still teamed together. He pushed me to my limits and I exceeded them to become stronger."

~"So he was simply a stepping stone to your pathway to power?"

~"Yes."

~In the distance, at the camp with Suigetsu and Juugo, Naruto's earthen voice chimed in while he retold a nasty joke he'd heard from Jiraiya during their sage training years earlier. There was a few disgusted sighs from TenTen and Neji, but by the end of the potty-mouthed jibe, Suigetsu was laughing so hard he was tearing up. Even Juugo was cracking a smile, while the others seemed put off while being mildly amused by Naruto's enthusiasm.

~"Do you think the same thing of Sakura? Is she just a stepping stone you plan to crush in order to get what you want?"

~Sasuke froze, visibly shaken by the question, but he regained composure not a second later. He refused to allow himself to appear weak, not now, not ever, though he hadn't an answer to Kakashi's query. On one hand, if he said what he thought of Sakura, he would be deemed weak. If he told his old teacher the same thing he'd said about Naruto, than he would be labeled cruel and heartless.

~"Why does everyone ask me about her? It is my business how I feel about people. If they aren't my friends, than they aren't. If I don't trust anyone, than I don't trust anyone. Why do I need to explain myself?" He spun on heel and stalked off without another word, the dying need to be free of the headache that was Kakashi Hakate had blown up full-force in his mind.

~Kakashi watched Sasuke go in a childish huff. He knew the young Shinobi male needed some time alone to think. With things as hectic as they had been for months since Sakura's inevitable kidnapping at Sasuke's possessed hands, Kakashi knew his ex-student had been racked with guilt. Even if the young man, barely out of his teens hadn't said it, it was obvious Sasuke felt guilt for the ultimate capture of the woman who carried his children.

~"You don't," Kakashi whispered lowly, his uncovered eye watching Sasuke's back as it fell away into the low light of the setting sun. "But you need to feel something, otherwise you can't protect anyone. Not even yourself."

* * *

**Naruto Uzumaki Age: 20**

* * *

~"Y-you know, N-Naruto," Hinata stuttered with a cherry bright blush adorning her face, "you could join… us." She looked down at her toes poking out from the tips of her heeled sandals, her hands tightly clasped at her front.

~Naruto gave her a quizzical look before smiling happily and throwing an arm around Hinata's shoulder. "Sure! It'll be just like old times!" He shouted, louder than was necessary and drew them both towards the fire with the others of the remaining rookie twelve sitting gathered around for warmth, but one second Hinata was there and the next she was gone. Her legs had buckled beneath her and she ate dusty, arid dirt for a moment before Naruto paused to take notice.

~"Hinata?" He asked, kneeling down beside her and poking her cheek, "are you all right?"

~Kiba Inuzuka had bumbled over to the duo's side, knowing the inevitable was about to happen. He smiled fakely down at Naruto, inwardly cursing the Jinchuriki's inability to see what was right in front of him, "she's not feeling good." He began to hoist the Hyuga princess into his arms when Naruto suddenly pushed the ANBU dressed canine familiar away with purpose.

~"I'll pick her up then," Naruto said with a warming smile and Kiba found himself unable to resist simply allowing the nine-tail to help. It was hard to stay angry at someone so apparently oblivious, even if he was a stupid knuckle-headed Dobe.

~The three of them, Hinata carried by Naruto, came to the fire with the others and were greeted with all the warmth of young ninjas who had grown up together, fought together, and bled together. There was a kind of unspoken sadness as the gathered rookies reflected on the loss of one of their own, Choji Akimichi, who had died protecting Ino at the Kage Summit. She had taken his death far more harshly than anyone else it seemed, her normally perky and upfront attitude having been slated down to one word answers and guttural responses. Even now, her long blonde hair seemed dull and her vibrant ocean blue-green eyes had grayed. Everything about her seemed lacking and many wondered if she would survive tomorrow.

~TenTen smiled up at Naruto when the blonde laid Hinata's still reeling body in the brown-haired Kunoichi's lap. She fanned her good friend's face for a few minutes until the Hyuga Princess seemed to be back to her old self and the scarlet blush of embarrassment seemed to have died down.

~"Is everyone ready for tomorrow?" Naruto asked callously, sitting with his legs crossed and his hands placed dramatically on his knees. He was leaning forward, uncomfortably so, eyes fiery as the reflection of their campfire reflected off the surface of his glistening, blue orbs.

~A few people nodded, while others didn't quite know how to respond. It was TenTen surprisingly who, of the ones who hadn't nodded, spoke first, "how are we supposed to prepare for something like this?"

~Neji beside her sighed and turned his gaze towards her. He had seen the three months of training she had undergone all by herself. He could still vividly remember how the young woman he had fallen for years ago, would train herself until she couldn't move and every last drop of her chakra had been used. If she didn't think she was ready, he wasn't so sure about himself anymore.

~"I don't think you can," Shikamaru came traipsing in from the darkness just beyond the fire's reach and beside him followed Temari, absent were her brothers. They greeted their friends and took places where there was room by the fire. "I don't think anyone can really prepare for battle with an enemy they know practically nothing about." Several of the others agreed with Nara.

~"So what do we do then?" Ino said suddenly, her closed gestured body opened if just slightly and she looked up at the others as they stared at her incredulously. This was the most she had spoken in a very long time.

~Shikamaru nodded to Ino, a warming gesticulation the blonde reciprocated as best she could, but it was obvious she _forgot_ how to articulate herself with her friends it seemed. Beside her, Sai was drawing lazily, he hadn't said a word in hours.

~"I suppose," Kiba started, "we just trust in what we know and what we've learned and pray to Kami it's enough."

~"What if it's not enough, you ask?" Shino startled everyone with the sudden intrusion of his deep voice, which seemed to annoy the bug master as he'd been the first here by the fire and would likely be the last to leave. He was the constantly unnoticed one, a gift as well as an annoying curse. "Then we die."

~"Stop it!" Temari growled out, "we're not going to die. We can't die, not yet."

~All eyes shifted to the sand princess and she instantly became aware that she'd spoken loud enough for them all to hear. She'd really only intended on Shikamaru and herself to hear those words, but now everyone wanted an elaboration.

~Temari sighed heavily, "I mean. It wouldn't be fair. To have made such great friends and then to lose them, just like that. Like it doesn't matter or it's okay for them to die."

~"It happens though," Neji added solemnly, reaching over on the dead tree log they sat on and touched the top of TenTen's hand. She smiled over at him sadly and gripped tight to her lover's fingers as if it would be the last touch she ever got from him.

~Naruto sprang to his feet, eyes full of churning emotions, "none of us are going to die." He looked at them all with hard glares, from Shino to Lee, everyone was caught in his shimmering blue eyes. "We have to promise," his scratchy voice ground out through the chorded tension.

~"We can't promise that, Naruto," Shikamaru said, but his blonde headed girlfriend elbowed him roughly in the ribs.

~"All of us need to promise that when this is all over, that we'll all go back to Konoha together and live out the rest of our lives." The blonde Jinchuriki was insistent, almost begging them to agree to stay alive. In some small way, Naruto was selfishly holding onto these people because they were the only ones he'd ever become friends with and they were the only ones he could count on. But on the other hand, he wanted them to stay alive for themselves, for those who loved them and those that they loved.

~Naruto thrust his hand into the center of the group, "promise. We can't lose anymore of our friends." He was referring to the loss of Choji and there was a heaviness in the air around them that seemed statically charged.

~Everyone stood stock still for a long time, watching and waiting for someone to make the first move. Finally, Hinata stood up and laid her hand over Naruto's, much to the blonde's delight and the princess' embarrassment. Beside her rose Lee, who laid his hand on top with a thumb's up and a wide grin. Next came TenTen and Neji, who were quickly followed by Temari and Shikamaru with a hard yank from the Kunoichi of fans.

~The rest of the group were followed in tow by Shino and Kiba. It was Ino and Sai who sat out in the end, the young Kunoichi watching with her dull eyes filled to the brim with unshed tears. She rubbed her sniffling nose with the back of her hand and stood up; slowly, sluggishly moving her hand towards the mass of limbs, but she pulled back at the last second. She didn't know if she could promise, if she had the strength to not make a mistake tomorrow that cost her the ultimate price.

~Ino hesitantly reached out again for the pact of hands awaiting hers, but she again froze a few inches away. As she would have pulled back, burst into silent sobs and ran for cover away from the judging eyes, a black gloved hand grasped hers and pulled it towards the pile.

~She jerked her head towards Sai and watched him smile eerily, the warmth in his touch seeming to assuage the sudden grief that gripped her heart. She looked back to the others and found them all smiling at her as well, extending to her their strength to help her get through the roadblock that was her sadness.

~"We're not always strong alone," Sai said emotionlessly, "but when you have friends, you will always be strong." There was a conglomerated set of gasps and chuckles from everyone as they absorbed what Sai had just said until Naruto finally shouted, "what book did you get that from?"

~Sai smiled with happy accomplishment, and pulled out a small black book from his satchel pack. On the cover was inlaid with gold threaded writing, _"The Art of Good Friendship."_ And despite everyone's desire to smack the normally stoic and fake art nin, they restrained as Naruto chuckled and applauded his once teammate for the perfect words.

~The night wore and the once rookies continued to talk, reminiscing about memories and experiences they had all had and shared together. There was a load of laughs shared all around about the days in the academy and about botched missions. A couple ninjas of the group talked about Naruto's antics, Lee's determination, and about everything under the sun. The hours flew by in the blink of an eye and the fire glowed down to smoldering red and gray embers.

~There was silence between everyone as they all sat mutedly staring at the dying fire. Conversations had slowed and finally ended some time ago, but no one seemed to notice. The calm that surrounded them like a protective bubble had allowed a few of the ninjas to sleep dreamlessly as they leaned or laid on their friends for support.

~Temari held Shikamaru's head in her lap as she stroked his temple softly, watching him snooze in silence. He needed the rest and the slightly older young woman wasn't about to ruin that for him. If she had half a mind, she would have joined him in sleep, but her mind was spinning wildly with thoughts and not one of them made any sense. There wouldn't be rest for her tonight and she knew it.

~Some time earlier, TenTen had pulled herself between Neji's legs and leaned back against his chest, having followed Shikamaru's lead and drifted off into the gentle grasp of sleep. Above her, Neji tried to keep her warm by blocking the desert's chill with his arms that were wrapped loosely about her neck, his sleeves spreading across the young Kunoichi's chest and midsection like a small blanket.

~Kiba of course had been the first to pass out, taking refuge with Akamaru and using the canine familiar like an oversized, absurdly warm pillow. Beside them laid Hinata, clutching to the dog's thick and soft fur coat, her eyes exhaustedly trying to stay open as she watched Naruto continue to glare down at the crackling fire like it was some evil thing in desperate need of being snuffed out. She wanted to say something to the Jinchuriki, but her inability to talk to the man she was transfixed on, won out in the end and she simply drifted off to sleep.

~Dawn would be coming soon and with it would come the order from Lady Tsunade as to the first barrage of attacks. Nothing and everything was expected, yet some kind of evil seed of doubt had been planted into the minds of everyone while they struggled viciously to understand what was coming next.

~Naruto rose to his feet an hour or two before the sun would turn the edges of the horizon a splattering mixture of canvas painted colors. He nodded to Neji, the only one besides Temari who had braved their own raging exhaustions to wade through the night of long and dreary thoughts. The two still awake seemed to take little notice to Naruto's absence, though later, both would wonder why they hadn't taken more care in asking the Jinchuriki where he was going.

~The blonde darted through the tents and encampments, carefully dodging sleeping rolls with bodies inside them until he had been able to get clear of the wall to wall sleeping bodies. He sensed a very familiar chakra not too far off and blurred towards it as fast as he could, not a few seconds later was greeted by the noncommittal grunt of irritation that was wholly Sasuke Uchiha.

~"Are you ready?" Naruto whispered and he saw Sasuke nod. They bounded off into the darkness, under the blanketed cover of cloudy skies that blocked out any stray strands of luminescent moonlight. The dark haired Shinobi lead the blonde as they drew ever closer to the imposing outline of Kazechi's strangely created castle.

~Neither of them spoke, the castle's rock face cruelly gaping at them as if to laugh at the nerve two Shinobis had at attempting to breech its walls even under the guise of night. It leered down with ravaged vengeance and offered zero comfort from the near electric-like pin prickles cascading down the duo's spines every unnerving step forward they took.

~Sasuke looked towards one of the jutting towers by chance, its height almost scraping against the sky and piercing it through, but it wasn't the massive height that seemed to startle the Uchiha to a dead stop. Atop the left tower, looking no bigger than a cockroach, a pale figure stood purposefully as long tendrils of agate pink colored tresses twirled in the wind. He could feel the gaze of a pair of precious emerald stone tinted eyes watching him, keeping him firmly planted to his spot.

~"Sakura," Sasuke mumbled and Naruto followed his friend's gaze towards the Kunoichi both of them knew well.

~"What the hell is she doing up there?" Naruto asked automatically, turning a questioning glance towards his teammate.

~Gut rot raged fierce in Sasuke's stomach as he felt the bottom fall out, leaving nothing but the emptiness of a large, black pitfall. Something was wrong, the rising hairs on the back of his neck told him that much, but there was something else. Something intangible that his mind couldn't quite place, yet it there, like a ominous cloud so thick one could taste it, smell it, and almost feel it. And then Sakura jumped.

~Sasuke couldn't control the involuntary gasp of surprise that flew from his lips, his eyes growing as a sudden wave of panic rose in his throat. _"What the fuck is she doing?"_ His mind reeled and it was Naruto who put words to the Uchiha's thoughts.

~"What the fuck is she doing?" Naruto hissed out lowly and jettisoned forward with more speed than Sasuke thought the Dobe had. "She's trying to kill herself!"

~They both raced headlong across the dead mounds of sand and dirt, kicking up minor whirlwinds of debris in their wake behind them, but they paid no attention. Both Uzumaki and the Uchiha watched in horror as their cherry blossom teammate plummeted towards the earth with all the grace of a dropped bowling ball. She tumbled and spun in the air without the slightest attempt at catching herself, and as her body fell faster and faster towards the concrete ground that would surely snatch away her life, Sasuke felt unable to contain himself anymore.

~"SAKURA!" He bellowed, the rising sound of his voice startling his companion. They both had originally opted for a surprise attack upon Kazechi's castle, taking as many discreet precautions as they could think to do; dark clothing, masking their chakra signatures, and moving with the utmost silence, and in one second Sasuke Uchiha had shattered all the preparations.

~The ground below them suddenly shifted, waves of sand and hardened earth rolled as the hiding monster beneath, came awake. A viney root sprang from the ground and shot at Naruto, narrowly missing the blonde when the Shinobi darted to the side dramatically, throwing his arms in the air and cursing about their luck.

~Sasuke skidded underneath the monstrously large root tentacle, keeping his dark obsidian pools transfixed upon the still falling object. A massive overload of thoughts battered into his mind, all of them screaming to be heard, but one rang out the loudest. It was more of an emotion than a thought and it gripped the Uchiha's heart harder than anything he'd ever felt before.

_~"Save her!"_ He bolted off and his Sharingan sprang into action.

~There was a flash of chakra nearby and Naruto quickly turned his attention towards it, leaping back from another twisted root that whizzed past his head and made a screaming sound as it went. A black clad Shinobi, dressed in ANBU gears came towards both the blonde and the onyx headed ninjas, a pack of dogs hot in pursuit.

~"Kakashi!" Naruto called, stupidly allowing his guard down just long enough for the flailing tentacle, dripping with dirt and debris, to come whizzing towards the Dobe with all the malicious killing intent of something brainlessly evil.

~A crackling blue light screamed through the air, a masked Kakashi along with it. The ANBU Shinobi sliced through the ravaging root in an attempt to save his once pupil from certain death. The ground beneath them suddenly shrieked in pain, shaking like a cataclysmic earthquake.

~More earth rolled, wave after wave of plant-like tentacles bursting through the dead soil barrier and thrashing around blindly. Whatever the monster was that hid beneath the earth had been wounded and only made furious, nothing Kakashi or the other could do now would divert its killing intention.

~"What do you two think you're doing?" Kakashi hissed out through his dog mask, "this is one of the single most idiotic things either of you has ever done and you're going to get killed."

~Naruto huffed lightly, sprinting past another attacking plant arm, "we were going to save Sakura," he started.

~"Don't you think we've all ready thought of that?" Kakashi said harshly, hoping to make the Dobe feel stupid and succeeding when his pupil looked down to his feet solemnly. "You two need to stop thinking like you're the only ones in this war. There are a million others who have come here to fight and a million others who have thought the exact thing you've both thought about—" the silver haired ANBU paused mid-sentence to look around for one of his missing pupils, finding Sasuke's lack of presence disturbing.

~The black-headed Uchiha had darted a head without stopping, dodging root limbs and falling boulders with the utmost of ease. He was blurring so fast his outline faded out behind him several feet as the naked struggled to catch sight of him. He was fighting to make it to her, struggling against the odds that gravity wouldn't win out in the end. The racing emotions needling his brain were coming in fast and hard, stabbing him with their urgency.

~_"Don't let her die! You have to protect her, save her like she's done for you in your weakest moments." _Sasuke's hands shifted through a jutsu, fingers moving too fast to see and when he'd finished he inhaled sharply… deeply, spinning around to blow fire that flung him into the air further than he could have possibly jump. He shifted to face her, coming up fast as she plummeted towards him. His hands reached up and snatched the pinkette from the air, pulling her close to his chest as he forced large amounts of chakra into his feet to slow his fall.

~There was a momentary weightlessness as Sasuke's upwards momentum came to a slow stop and then switched direction, thrusting him towards the ground just as Sakura had been headed for moments ago. He felt the chakra in his feet frantically searching for something to grip to and in a last ditch effort to slow their combined descent, Sasuke sent a crackling tsunami wave of blue energy coursing through his arm.

~Sasuke's chidori was different then Kakashi's though both had their similarities, but over the years since the youngest Uchiha's departure from Konoha, he had practiced the lightning jutsu enough times to proclaim himself a master of it, and had found ways to channel the unbridled, blue energy to do his bidding in ways he was sure Kakashi hadn't yet thought of. The only difference now, was in all those practiced situations before when Sasuke had used this attack, none of those times was he protecting anyone.

~The bright blue light crackled down his arm, exploding from his fingertips and Saskue plunged his fist into the stone side of Kazechi's castle, tearing away rock and concrete as they continued to fall. He felt their momentum slowing, giving the onyx headed Shinobi the chance to grip to the wall's side with his feet. When gravity finally released her tight grip on the two and Sasuke crouched horizontally sideways from the castle at a dead stop, only then did he release his chidori to hang on under his own strength.

~There was only about a thirty-foot drop from where Sasuke and Sakura were now to the ground, and the male sighed heavily in relief, clutching her still tightly to his muscular, taut chest. All at once, the raging tempest of thoughts whirling around in his mind went silent, replaced now by an odd feeling of foreboding. Something wasn't right, his instincts were suddenly shrieking that.

~He let go of the wall and dropped to the ground, reaching his hand out to grab Sakura's chin to force her to look at him. When he saw her face, a sudden outpouring of rage overtook him and he threw the lifeless body at the wall with all the strength as he could muster. Her body hit the rock side with a dull thud and her limbs clattered off her torso brokenly. It had been a luring puppet, nothing more. The poor, dead human woman who had been dressed up remarkably like Sakura Haruno was a cheap imitation that lacked vision or effort. It wasn't meant to used for long and wasn't meant to do more than divert attention away from something else.

~"Cheap tricks," Sasuke muttered venomously, quickly jerking his head to peer over his shoulder, but there was nothing behind him, not even the tentacle roots that were still attacking Naruto and the ANBU male Sasuke was sure was Kakashi, were even remotely close by.

~" 'Cheap'?" A voice slithered out, unnerving in every sense of the word and it froze Sasuke solid. The voices of the dead weren't supposed to be able to speak, those who were dead and buried should have stayed in their graves.

~"Orochimaru," the Uchiha whispered lowly, his heart rate kicking up a few notches, but he managed to reign in the initial emotion that had at first spread across his façade. His hand slowly inched up towards Kusanagi at his back, but a sudden wind kicked up and a weight pressed down on the Uchiha's shoulders.

~"You know," Orochimaru purred in Sasuke's ear, "I always liked you better than your brother. At least you have fire—" the changed snake Sannin had to dodge away from the quicker than lightning movement Sasuke made, as he drew Kusanagi and sliced at an arcing angle right for him.

~"Get away from me, Orochimaru," the deep, guttural growl emitted from Sasuke's throat wasn't a warning, it was promise. If the snake dared come even an inch closer, he would be cut to ribbons, of that Orochimaru had no doubt.

~"Now, don't be cruel to your old sensei, Sasuke," the snake chuckled out, slithering around in the shadows just beyond the younger Uchiha's vision. "I've taught you so much. You should be grateful."

~"You tried to steal my body. You experimented on me and you put that_ thing_ in me."

~Orochimaru shrugged in the darkness, Sasuke could see it vaguely and his senses raged on high alert, ready for anything. "Yes, I did those things. But you kept coming back, and anyway, the god removed the curse seal as well as the ghoul demon I put in you. You should be grateful to me for helping you become stronger," he drew closer to Sasuke, testing the young man's resolve and found it iron clad when a bandaged arm flung out with veteran's ease and sliced the air merely inches from Orochimaru's gut.

~"Don't move," Sasuke was hissing out, his Sharingan swirling in the darkness, a blood red against the backdrop of shadowed blackness.

~"You're so testy, Sasuke. What if I was only here to warn you?"

~"Hn."

~"Obscure and to the point as always," the snake's tongue flicked out from between his lips as he tested the air, "Kazechi's only hope to win is by forcing that Kunoichi to absorb him."

~Sasuke's eyes narrowed to slits, dawning realization lighting up his features, though he continued to glare down his old teacher, "why would you tell me this?"

~"Let's just say, it's in my own personal interests that Kazechi's plans don't make it to fruition."

~"Sasuke!" Naruto was heard screaming across the desert and when the Uchiha turned his gaze only for a split second towards the Dobe and then back to Orochimaru, the demon snake was gone, had disappeared into the very air around him. The only thing left of the Sannin was a gentle whisper in Sasuke's ear, soft and seductive.

~_"You have to steal the girl before the god wins. Only I can show you the way. Follow me…"_

~"Sasuke!" Naruto was shouting louder and when the Sharingan user finally turned his attention towards his teammate, the blonde waved enthusiastically. The Dobe was motioning for Sasuke to come, but Orochimaru's voice still hissed inside the Uchiha's skull, echoing quieter and quieter every passing second.

~He turned towards the castle and saw a blackened hole that had suddenly formed from the shadowed nothingness, likely of Orochimaru's design and though ringing alarm bells of an oncoming trap were shrieking throughout Sasuke's mind, he ignored them and made his way towards the castle. He sheated his sword, the grating metal against metal comforting his mind. Once he stepped inside the blackness and his form disappeared from view, the hole closed up swiftly, as if having never been there in the first place. And Sasuke was gone.

* * *

**Tsunade Senju Age: 59**

* * *

~"Of all the stupid, idiotic, careless things you two morons have done over the years, I think this by far is the dumbest!" Tsunade shouted from her bunk. She had been forced to cut her war preparations with the other Kages short when word was sent that Kakashi had found word on the two delinquent Shinobis.

~"But Baba-san—"

~"Don't you Baba-san me!" She screamed and made like she was going to fling something at Naruto. The Jinchuriki flinched, dramatically moving his body to protect his two most important parts, his face and his crotch. One hand raced to each, and beside him Kakashi sighed heavily in a form of mild annoyance.

~"Why can't either of you do as you're told? Naruto, what if you had been captured? What then? Now we have _another_ missing Shinobi, a good one, and I don't know if he's defected or not." Tsunade angrily focused all of her heated rage on the blonde, hoping with all her might that the young Shinobi would just burst into flames, if only to cool her tempest's rage.

~"But!—"

~"You think you're trying to save Sakura? You might've cost us her if both of your stupidity had gone much further."

~Naruto flinched again, "Hokage."

~"Itachi and Utakata have all ready infiltrated Kazechi's castle. You might have blown their cover." Naruto's eyes widened in shocked surprise.

~"You mean Itachi didn't defect?" Naruto asked incredulously.

~"Of course not. He's been working for me and doing my reconnaissance for months now."

~"B-b-but, Hokage! Why didn't you tell us?"

~"_Because _I _am_ Hokage, if I feel it necessary to keep information from certain parties, than that is what must be done."

~For a long few seconds of shocked silence, Naruto stood before Tsunade, looking dumbfounded and stupid. He couldn't understand why something like this had been kept from him, it seemed far too important to keep private, especially when the woman knew about how badly both Sasuke and him wanted to protect and save Sakura. The least the old Sannin could have done was have told them _something_… _anything_, but instead she'd kept silent and it ended in Saskue's sudden disappearance.

~"Itachi was going to inform us of Kazechi's movements when I had to step in to save you," Kakashi said calmly, sensing Naruto's confused inner turmoil threatening to bubble over into anger if left too much longer unchecked, "I requested that you not know because I wanted you to—"

~"All of you try to teach us to trust our teammates and our teachers, but how can we as students do that when our teachers keep things from us and lie to us?" Naruto's face had darkened, a kind of swirling aura surrounding him in a veil of almost tangible electricity that chirped and crackled all over his body.

~"It was for your own good, Naru—"

~"You keep betraying him!" Naruto interrupted the Hokage woman with a loud yell that everyone was sure could have been heard more than a few meters away, "no wonder Sasuke doesn't act like we're his friend anymore, no one here acts like it."

~Tsunade narrowed her eyes, "you can't possibly think that after everything's he's done that everyone will just forgive him and move on, can you?"

~"I've forgiven him, why can't you? It was the stupid elders who did this to him anyway, and they're dead now. None of this was his fault!"

~Kakashi grabbed Naruto's arm swiftly when the blonde took a menacing step forward and though the older sensei knew his pupil wouldn't dare hurt the Hokage, it didn't mean the young man wouldn't show some arrogance that crossed a line like he was doing now.

~"Everyone is responsible for their own actions, Naruto. Sasuke isn't above the law, not here, not anywhere. He betrayed his village, murdered innocent people, hurt countless others in some way or another in _other_ countries. After this war, he will be punished for his crimes."

~The evident look of taken aback surprise threw Naruto Uzumaki for a twisted loop of anger and blatant betrayel. He hadn't honestly thought about it too much, but he had never thought that Sasuke would ever be put on trial for his crimes. He'd forgiven his friend, to Naruto, that was all that was needed, but it seemed that he had been wrong.

~"What'er you going to do to him?"

~Tsunade inhaled deeply, thinking over her response carefully so as not to cause Naruto's temper to rise, "the Kages have decided to convene after this war, should we win. We'll all decide Sasuke's fate at that time."

~"You mean, you were going to _use_ Sasuke and then stab him in the back with his punishment after he's risked his life?" Naruto's breathing had suddenly escalated, the fiery whirling of emotions battling against his better, more level-headed judgment, and his emotions were winning.

~"You know the rules, Naruto. Now calm down."

~"_C-calm down!"_ The voice of Kyuubi came shrieking through Naruto's own, having sensed his container's overwhelming distress and acting upon it like a moth to a lighted beacon. An infuriated aura flamed up around Naruto's body, forcing Tsunade to her feet, while the troupe of ANBU guards that surrounded her took defensive positions, but the Hokage waved them down.

~"Stay calm, Naruto. You know I'm right," Tsunade cooed softly, hoping her voice would make the boy see reason.

~"_I don't want to be in a village that can do this to their people!"_

~Kakashi, braving the overwhelming, almost choking aura, leaned in close to Naruto's ear and whispered something softly into his pupil's ear, something none of the other ANBUs nor Tsunade could hear. But as quickly as Naruto's temper had come on, it was snuffed out, the aura and his anger gone with it. All that remained behind was a rather dejected looking blonde-headed Shinobi who looked as if he was about to completely give up. Without saying a word, he pulled out of Kakashi's grip and made his way towards the exit, lifting the tent flap and letting it fall in place behind him.

~There were a few ticking moments of silence before Hokage Tsunade finally gathered up enough of herself to look over her ANBU Captain, "what did you say to him?"

~"I simply reminded him that this world is cruel and not everything is played fairly."

~"That's it?"

~"Among other things, my lady." He waited for only a second, before careening forward with his next thought, preventing what Tsunade was going to say to reach her lips. "Dawn is in an hour, we should prepare the troops."

* * *

**Naruto Uzuamaki Age: 20**

* * *

~Naruto stood beside Sai in morbid silence, barely even listening as Hokage Tsunade spoke to her troops of Leaf and those gathered from around the country of Fire. In the distance, Naruto could make out the outlines of other Kages from the other countries and villages standing on their own podiums, making similar talks to their people, hoping to raise morale and get this blood bath on the proverbial road.

~Tsunade was talking about honor; honor in war, honor at home. Naruto couldn't help but scoff shortly at her speech. Next came duty; duty to the village, to their Hokage, to family, and to friends, and another short snort escaped the blonde's lips. This was turning into a complete and utter hypocritical farse the Shinobi.

~"—Cold, Naruto?" Sai was saying something, but the Dobe had only heard the last part.

~"Huh?" Naruto asked dumbly.

~"Do you have a cold? You keep sneezing."

~Inwardly, Naruto laughed, but outwardly shook his head, "lemme ask you something, Sai."

~The onyx-headed painter nodded that he was listening, even if his gaze was turned towards Tsunade.

~"Say one of your friends did something bad to you and to someone else, but you forgave them. Do you think that friend should still be punished for what he did?"

~"Did this friend apologize to the other person?"

~Naruto chuckled shortly, Sasuke apologizing for anything would be a miracle in itself, but he answered Sai nonetheless, "no."

~Sai opened up his side pack, pulling out a well-persevered book, the one he used most in the situations where he was called to act like a friend. After a few seconds of momentary reading, and allowing his thoughts to process, even while Naruto stood beside him looking incredulously stupid, Sai finally answered. "Then he's not fully forgiven. Even if I've forgiven him, the other person has not. So, to answer your question. Yes, Sasuke should still be punished."

~Naruto's bottom jaw dropped open wide enough for a large bug to fly in, but the blonde closed his mouth and blinked a few times to shake away the confusion, "how did you know I was talking about him?"

~"Because everyone is, and I assumed because you and him are such good friends, as you claim, that you would be talking about him."

~"B-b-but I didn't say any names."

~"Naruto, you're so stupid," it had sounded like Sakura; the tone, the content, if it hadn't been a distinctly male voice, Naruto might've thought the pinkette was standing right beside him, but it was just Sai and the Dobe glared at the art nin angrily.

~"That's what she would say," he said quietly, "she would say that I was being stupid and to grow up."

~The initial influx of annoyed emotion seemed to drift away from Naruto then, the tide of anger pulled back and left him suddenly… sad. Sai was right, it was something Sakura would say. She would also add that he was a dummy and smash one of her He-Man fists into a random body part that would hurt something fierce and watch him fly off in pain from the imminent collision. She also wouldn't apologize later about it and act as if Naruto had learned a great lesson from her smacking, which the Jinchuriki would pretend to have learned, but in all honesty… hadn't.

~Sai flipped through his book again, found the right page and read to himself again, before turning to Naruto and placing a hand on the Shinobi's shoulder and drawing closer.

~For a split second, Naruto thought Sai would kiss him and in an effort to affront that kind of behavior before it even started, the blonde container pressed the heel of his hand onto Sai's forehead to hold the nin back, "kiss me, I'll knock you out."

~There seemed to be a comical moment of paused movements, where a small group of watching eyes glared at Sai and Naruto standing amongst them, before a rising earful of hushed shushings told them to shut up and be quiet while the Hokage spoke.

~"I was simply trying to convey a sense friendly comfort."

~"By kissing me?"

~Another round of people hushing them made Sai lower his voice, "no. I was going to hug you."

~"Oh that's better," Naruto said, rolling his eyes in sarcastic disdain.

~"I thought it would be," Sai informed and pulled Naruto closer, even as the blonde flailed wildly like a fish out of water. The whole situation would have been slightly more comical to others had the direness of what was coming not drowned out the comedy.

~When Sai finally pulled away, leaving an embarrassed Naruto blushing a furious, angry red, the crowd around them suddenly cheered deafeningly, obviously Tsunade speech done and just in time too. Dawn had peeked her head just barely above the horizon, bringing to an end the final night of preparations and peace. From here on out, things would be bloody and endless.

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

* * *

~He took the stairs in a rush, blazing along the still darkened shadows of Kazechi's castle, but outside was the beginning hints of daylight peeking over the edges of the east and soon nothing would be able to hide him. Sasuke had to find Sakura soon or all of this stealth would mean nothing.

~Orochimaru's jutsu shadow led Sasuke higher and higher up the castle's towers, finally darting silently down an empty passageway and dispersing into a black mist. The misty cloud hung around in the air before floating and smashing into a chakra barrier that lit brightly with twelve ancient seals.

~Sasuke glared at the barrier from the shadows, watching as someone who looked like a guard dressed in a form of ANBU gear drew closer to the barrier to inspect it, but found nothing amiss and wordlessly returned to his post.

~It was odd the way the distinctly male ANBU moved, almost hunched over, with a stiff walk of someone ancient. Sasuke drew closer, careful to avoid the chakra barrier Orochimaru had so carefully pointed out to the Uchiha youngest, but as he would have drawn close enough to inspect the drawing seals placed on the walls to keep the barrier in place, a set of faint footsteps were heard from behind, forcing Sasuke to take cover before he was seen.

~A red-head came into view first off the spiral stairs case, behind him followed a purple-haired woman. Both looked solemnly devoid of emotions, the male, someone Sasuke was sure he'd seen before but couldn't place stalked passed and lifted a hand to the barrier. The woman paused behind the man, turning her head towards the black shadows beside her, her eyes peering into the darkness and staring down Sasuke with steely intensity. She could see him, that much the Uchiha knew, but she raised no alarm, simply stared at him, waiting.

~The barrier came down in a swirl of chakra that seemed to burst and hang all around the hall for a long lingering moment, and in that second, the woman made a motion with her eyes that Sasuke managed to barely catch, meaning for him to make a dash for it. Without having to be asked twice, nor stopping to understand the odd situation that he had found himself in, he followed behind the red-head, and in front of the woman, still clinging tightly to the draping shadows that blanketed his creeping frame.

~Just as the woman stepped over the barrier line, the chakra streamed back into place, having suddenly reassembled itself as it had finished granting passage to its guests. There would be no returning through this hall for Sasuke unless he wished to alert the rest of the castle to his presence, something he wasn't apt to doing right at the moment. For now, all that was needed was to press on, to continue down the corridor as unnoticed as was possible, but as Sasuke stole down another hallway, leaving behind the woman and the red-haired Shinobi with the malicious look of intent silence, he wondered why the woman he seemed vaguely familiar of, had helped him.

~Pushing the thoughts away, Sasuke kept to the shadows, lowering his chakra until he was sure no one could detect him no matter how good they were at finding the ninja threads, hoping with everything he possessed to keep his movements a secret from everyone who would have been an enemy.

~Further and further into the mine of evil he went, the thicker the air full of malevolent purpose seemed to become. It felt choking and hot, ribbons of gold and green chakra dancing across Sasuke's vision as his Sharingan struggled to catch anything and everything in his sight.

~Sakura was close, he could feel her. Her scent of spring cherry blossoms, though faint danced across his nose and led him closer and closer to the prison cell she was being held in.

~The oppressive feeling thickened as did the amount of shadowed guards with hooded faces that seemed to accumulate the deeper into this hellhole Sasuke went. They were useless if they couldn't detect the Uchiha, but the youngest Sharingan user of the whole family line was glad for that. He didn't want to exude the strength and energy to fight these ninjas if he honestly didn't have to. His main priority was the pink-haired woman hiding behind a barred door somewhere nearby, and that was his goal no matter what it cost him.

~A series of random, animalistic grunts and squeals made their way to the hiding Shinobi's ears, something like the noise that pigs made while they were rutting or hunting for truffles, and at first Sasuke paid the sound no mind, but when a guard only a few paces off seemed to return he sound, something forced the young man to get a closer look.

~He hadn't noticed it before, hadn't given the masked guards enough thought as to who or _what_ exactly they were, mostly because he didn't care, but as Sasuke passed by another ANBU status dressed ninja, he took note of the eyes hiding even behind a porcelain mask. They were bloodshot and abnormal, staring off into the distance and full of an emotion the young man couldn't quite place. It was neither fully sad, nor angry, a mixture of the two emotions, haphazardly thrown together to make this concoction of an expression that seemed ancient and foreboding. Then the smell kicked in.

~Sasuke passed by another guarding specter bumbling around his rounds, not uttering a sound as his one hall over predecessor had been, drawing so close to the bloated figure that Sasuke could smell the strong, overwhelming stench of death and decaying flesh. It almost overtook his senses and he tried hard to push it away, fighting to keep control of his chakra as well as his tight grip to the shadows.

~There guards, as Sasuke had placed them to be, were merely bits of dead flesh, animated from whatever resting place they had once occupied, to become slaves to a god who cared not at all for the rest of the dead.

~A scream, feminine and pained draw Sasuke's attention then and he sprinted down the hallway before he could be caught by the dead, yet still walking guards. That voice had been as familiar to him as the sound of his brother's constant speeches, or the feel of Kusanagi in his grip. It was Sakura's cry, of that Sasuke had little no doubt, he'd heard that sound too many times to be mistaken.

~He screeched to a halt outside a barred doorway, peering inside through the small porthole that granted only enough space for the eyes to glance inside.

~Sakura's bleeding body stood floating, naked as the day she was born. A few wounds at her legs, belly, and chest bled freely, unbinded and unchecked. She whimpered softly, her eyes closed against the onslaught of torturous motions against her.

~"Stop it!" She pleaded, arms stretched out by some unseen force, holding her in place while the bite of an electrically charged chakra thread bit into her flesh, tearing into it and leaving another nasty gash that looked like it would leave a disgusting, ragged scar.

~"Aww, the puppet begs, how pathetic." An Akastsuki cloak drew forward and freed from his outer shell, Sasuke saw the puppet master himself torturing Sakura to get his proverbial rocks off. "You would make a beautiful piece of art," Sasori whispered, watching with fascination as Sakura's eyes shifted from deep jade, to threaded gold. The goddess within her was weakened, likely dying from the atrocities being done to the poor, young Kunoichi she was forced to inhabit, making the torture far more pleasing when the victim could react as she should have.

~A boiling rage built up inside Sasuke then, white hot and burning. He clenched his fists together, the knuckles losing all their color as the Uchiha struggled to keep control of his fly away emotions. No one hurt the pinkette, not Naruto, not an enemy, no one… no one except him. She was his in every sense of the word. To touch, to hold, push away, to hurt… to love… Nothing and no one would be the cause of her happiness or her pain.

~A guard stood at the doorway to Sakura's prison cell, took out a key from his pocket and jammed it into the porthole, the door creaking open as the creature, dead or alive poked his head in. He didn't utter a word, merely grunted a guttural sound of disdain and Sasori instantly dropped Sakura to the floor in a heap, pulling back his nearly invisible, barely glimmering puppet strings laced with dangerous chakra.

~"Kazechi, that fucking…" Sasori trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished. The walls had ears, millions of them and he wasn't about to be punished for speaking out of anger, even if that emotion was rarely let out. The Master of the Bloody Sand took his leave without looking back, pulling out his Sugasa from underneath his cloak and placing it neatly atop his head. The battle was beginning, the outside sounds of clattering weapons and a heavily footed army plodding ahead could be heard outside.

~The guard stood tall, staring across the corridor at the opposite wall with all the intent of a transfixed lion awaiting the chance for the final blow. His black gloved, heavily armored hands stood at the ready, inches from a dangerous, also black pouch on his hip where Sasuke could see the old, silver key glittering in the rising light of the sun from outside. Soon the shadows would be all used up and Sasuke's cover would be blown, any chances the young Shinobi male took now would need to be done before an alarm could be raised.

~Sasuke charged forward, sprinting away from the darkness clad cloak he wore and drove a Kunai through the ceratoid artery at the ANBU's neck. It would have been a silent, lethal blow had the Uchiha's enemy been human, but as luck would have it, the guard simply turned sluggishly towards his opponent, eyes gleaming with faraway anger and a hint of muted pain. His hand grabbed for his own Kunai and brought it up with lightning quick reflexes towards Sasuke's chest. The young man quickly countered, slamming the hilt of Kusanagi into the flung weapon at the last possible second, deflecting the blow.

~The guard's Kunai flew across the room and clatter loudly against a wall. There was a kind of silent standoff that went on between Sasuke and his enemy, both glaring each other down with heated malice, but it was the decaying corpse that made the first move, he snatched up the Kunai in his neck and pulled it out with an sickening sucking sound as dead flesh released the metal weapon that had been deeply imbedded.

~Oozing black blood sprayed across the stones on all sides, scorching burn marks of blackened char where the droplets and wetness fell. His blood was poisoned, if any of it touched Sasuke's body, he would be burned. The predicament just continued to take on a grimmer appearance.

~Sasuke arched a precise slash at the guarding ANBU's waist, the male_ thing_ not even trying to avoid the attack, letting the metal sing through his flesh and slice him open. More blood poured out, dousing Kusanagi and splattering everywhere with every arcing movement and halting pause.

~The Uchiha swung again, this time, watching in sickened enthrallment as the guard, who was nearly cut in half, moved backwards. Flesh, bone, and muscle moved awkwardly, almost sluggishly behind the inescapable movement. This creature was absolutely dead; nothing living could take a blow like that and survive the aftermath for longer than a few lingering seconds.

~A sudden pain in Sasuke's hand screamed out and the sound and smell of burning flesh alerted the Uchiha to the blood on his sword having finally dribbled down over the hilt and onto his fingerless, gloved hands. The black essence had eaten through his bandages and leather gloves, an acid that burned like fire and smelled like death. It was grotesque.

~Pushing away the burning agony, Sasuke pulled a couple poisoned senbons from the inner pocket of his flak vest, not trying to poison the all ready puss filled monster, but to use the flammable needles like an accelerant. He watched the sharp, metal cylinders sink into the corpse's flesh and just as he would have gone through the motions of his Great Fireball Release jutsu, the dead creature turned its head skyward and let loose an ear piercing wail that Sasuke was sure was an alarm.

~The deafening sound echoed loud in his ears and he fought to drown it out, covering the tender hearing appendages with his hands. Kusanagi went rattling to the floor and Sasuke dropped to his knees, feeling the very energy being drained away from him. His vision swam and his Sharigan, which had blazed to life as he raced the halls of the castle earlier, suddenly receded. Everything that had been seen in perfect clarity was now hazy and normal, the after effects of using his blood born abilities for long periods of time. It would go away later, but for now that wouldn't be possible, Sasuke had to act quickly before he was overwhelmed by more hoardes of the living dead.

~He haltingly snatched up his sword and jammed it into the corpse's throat, quickly silencing the splitting alarm. From down the halls, Sasuke could hear sandaled feet running towards him and he knew his cover had been blown. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that the entire castle knew he was here, but with the object of his goal within his grasp, he wasn't about to allow this opportunity go to waste.

~A ring of silver keys hung at the zombie's side, quickly seized by the Uchiha with his cat-like reflexes. He yanked Kusanagi from his victim, ignoring the corpse as it slide to the ground motionless, its brain stem severed. Behind its porcelain mask, Sasuke noticed the eyes spinning wildly, the thing still alive even with that kind of a fatal wound. But he hardly dwelled on it, with enemies quickly closing in around him, he jammed a key into the hole, praying it was the right one.

~The tumblers in the door clicked and the heavy wooden door swung immediately open, Sasuke had guessed correctly. Without a second's pause, he raced in, stepping over the corpse, and slamming the door behind him closed. More guards were suddenly filling the corridor hallway, their masked faces peering in through the barred window. They glared Sasuke down and grunted with effort as they struggled to get the portal open, although it was now locked from the inside and granted no entrance.

~With time of the essence, Sasuke spun on heel towards where Sasori had left Sakura's bleeding body, but she had suddenly disappeared. A trail of falling droplets led from her spot towards a white, liquid filled tank in the middle of the room, and it was then that Sasuke finally realized where exactly he was.

~He had heard Orochimaru briefly go on maddening tangents with Kabuto about this room, years ago. Where the ancient goddess of water could be used like a weapon for the other gods and the demonic pieces of the ten-tail. The tube like machines surrounding the coffin were used to hold the living container's bodies while Ganimaru-Hibiki slowly absorbed their powers into her body, and became more powerful. All that was needed was the Jinchurikis and the other gods, the rest was simple. Machinery was used to amplify Ganimaru's all ready existing succubus traits of extracting chakra from living matter, and mind-control kept her in line. It was all so simply complex and nearly drove Sasuke's all ready spinning anger out of control.

~He gripped to the edge of the white coffin, looking around frantically for Sakura, but only seeing the captured Jinchurikis that had been placed in the absorption tanks all around her. Behind him, the pounding and groans of the frenzied corpses was getting louder. The door wasn't going to be able to hold for much longer and he was sure much stronger help was on its way. Everything was going crazy, it looked completely hopeless, and Sasuke was about to explode.

~Something wet and warm touched his fingertips, and in an instant there was a deafening calm inside the Uchiha's spiraling mind. His eyes darted down to the translucent colored hand touching his own, and the white eyes staring at him with rings of faded gold.

~It was Sakura. Even without an outline, or clear tangibility, Sasuke knew that and he took her hand tightly, encircling his arms about her trembling body. She was shaking so violently, a sound like whispering sobs exiting her throat and making their way to his ears.

~Sasuke was stunned, he tried to hush her shaking and fear, but realized he didn't quite know how to. He simply held the naked, woman tightly against his chest and laid his chiseled chin upon the top of her head, hoping to convey a sense of peace from his mind to hers.

~It was done, he had found her. That was all that mattered, but the nagging need to escape was a growing threat that loomed over them and the onyx-headed Uchiha looked around listlessly for some kind of exit.

~There wasn't a window, or another door. This room was like a mechanized tomb, specifically designed to keep Sakura and the goddess she contained within her, forever trapped in here with the pieces of the ten-tail.

~"We… have to… save them," Sakura murmured against Sasuke's chest, her arms sitting limply in her naked lap, unable to even gather enough strength to wrap around her savior's neck.

~"I'm not here to save them," Sasuke muttered cruelly, another loud bang on the door had it splintering. He didn't have more than a few fleeting moments to come up with a plan.

~"How thick is the wall, Sakura?" He asked suddenly, feeling her dead weighted form flinch slightly from the heat in his voice.

~She glanced up at him, the unbridled exhaustion from no energy and blood loss made her look pathetic, frail, and emaciated. Another few days spent in torture would kill her that much was apparent. "A couple meters," she assumed. Her time here hadn't been spent deducing out the castle weakest points. She'd spent it in debilitating pain, being subject to the tyrannical whims of a sociopath who loved carnage, blood, and torture, and she wasn't simply talking about the god who was also clearly off his rocker.

~"I might be able to break through it," he assured, setting her down next to him in an effort to have full control of his arms, but she clung to his leg as if it were her only saving grace.

~"Don't leave me again," she begged, hugging his thigh and burying her face into the black pants material. Her eyes welled up with tears, and a small bit of her emerald green showed through the white and gold laced irises.

~"I'm not going anywhere," Sasuke said, trying to dilute her fears. He haltingly touched the top of her head, afraid for a split second of showing his emotions in broad daylight, but her low sobs forced away his habitual habit of hiding himself and he gently caressed her cheek. "Be strong."

~He pulled out of her grasp and inhaled deeply. His stance took on an open ended appearance; legs spread wide, lining up directly with his shoulders, and he clenched his fists. Aside from the pounding of the breaking door, the room had gone silent, even the whirring machines silenced themselves as Sasuke Uchiha centered all of his chakra into his fists.

~The influx of radiating chakra took on the form of cylindrical, purple threads that surrounded his body, kicking up a mysterious wind that kicked outward every few seconds and blew Sakura's still transparent colored hair across her face.

~Everything seemed to still for the moment as Sasuke gather together precious pieces of chakra from the surrounding air and bunched it with his own, pushing it downward in his body until it all collected neatly into his right fist. He was focusing on the wall in front of him, his eyes closed as he imagined every single inch of the stone in front of him and the amount of Shinobi strength it would take to burst through it.

~When the energy finally gathered up and there was nothing more to take from anywhere, Sasuke's eyes bolted open and his Sharingan spun. The purple chakra burst into a light blue explosion of crackling energy and the Uchiha raced forward, smashing his fist into the wall.

~Time came to a halting stop for the onyx-haired Sharingan user it seemed, as the wall exploded and the rays of daylight from outside peeked in. He was all ready in the process of turning on heel to grab Sakura when the doorway finally broke open and the Akatsuki member Hidan appeared from the rising dust cloud.

~The older male swung his scythe dangerously, taking out several of the walking dead guards that piled in behind him before he darted ahead, ready to snatch up Sakura even as she cowered lamely on the floor.

~Sasuke drew Kusanagi to parry the dropping blow aimed to stop him from gathering the useless woman up, and he shoved Hidan back a few feet with sheer, overwhelming force. There was a calm that had bunched up on the Uchiha son's face, the kind where emotions were squelched in place of instincts for battle. Sasuke was a mask of utter serenity, coupled together with his unmatched instincts for battle, but this wasn't the time or the place.

~Scooping up Sakura in his arms, Sasuke backed up towards the newly made improvement upon the castle's tower, keeping a steady Sharingan carefully on Hidan who was attempting to look for an opening to attack.

~"Come here, you little shit!" Hidan squalled; charging for his black-headed victim, but Sasuke's form dropped off the edge of the castle and was sent free falling towards the ground thick with the bodies of enemies and friends alike.

~Sakura was trembling in his arms again, probably scared Sasuke assumed and he look down at her as they freefell, "we're going to be fine." He couldn't see her face, it was covered up by the transparent hair and when he lifted a hand to brush it away his eyes widened.

~The young woman's eyes had shifted to gray, the kind of dead, ghoulish gray Sasuke had seen only on one other being… Kazechi. And Sakura grinned maniacally, smashing a chakra leaden fist into her savior's face. The world was suddenly a bright shower of sparkling reds and blacks as Sasuke's consciousness fought to hang on.

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**Tsunade Senju Age: 60 / Toad Sage Jirayia Age: 60**

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~The Kage of Leaf watched on in horror as Jiraiya was thrown several hundred yards back by the overwhelming power of a revived dead she knew all too well. Her honey brown eyes couldn't believe what she was seeing, couldn't quite comprehend the horror of reliving this nightmare she couldn't get out of.

~Her lips quivered and her mind reeled. The same damn thought continued to repeat itself over and over again in her mind, _"this isn't real. _He's_ not real."_ But there was no denying the long white hair moving in the breeze of battle, while all around them the tolls of wars were being paid. People on all sides were screaming and dying, blood was pooling like a river, yet only one side seemed to be yet unphased. Their enemies kept getting back up, while Tsunade's own side continued to die.

~"Dan," she whispered in shock, "no… You're dead."

~A soft smile touched the man's lips then, almost seemingly gentle, but there was still the barely living wildness of death that haunted his dark green eyes encompassed by a dark blood red. "Tsunade," he murmured back, barely heard above the sounds of screaming and dying.

~Jiraiya had managed to climb to his feet, his forehead bleeding from the nasty gash Dan had given him when the sage had been caught off guard. His horned head protector lay in shambles on the ground at Dan's feet, an ominous sign for most, but the man wasn't deterred.

~"Tsunade!" Jiraiya yelled over the sounds of war, "get away from him, it's a trick! He's not Dan! Dan is dead!"

~"But," she started, taking an unsteady step forward, her mind still a whirl of too many thoughts, "but he's standing right here."

~"He's going to kill you!" The sage leapt forward, drawing out a toothed Kunai his toady familiars had given him specially for this war. He took on a defensive stance, aiming to protect Tsunade from the wiles of her dead lover.

~"It's Dan," Tsunade said lowly, entranced by the figure standing before her, his hands opened wide for her to come to him.

~"You're still so beautiful," he cooed, "I've missed you since I fell asleep."

~"It's a lie, Tsunade. Stop listening," Jiraiya grabbed up the Hokage's arm as she went to walk around the Toad Sage and go right to Dan, "he's not our lover anymore, Tsunade. Please." He was begging now, not something he did lightly and there was a moment's hesitation in the woven spell of Tsunade's own mind where she wondered what she should do.

~"I love you," Jiraiya whispered, "please don't make me have to hurt you."

~Tsunade yanked her arm away, "if you loved me you wouldn't hurt me. Now stop it! It's Dan for god's sake."

~The decision wasn't hard to make in Jiraiya's mind as he yanked Tsunade back and threw her haphazardly over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Hokage, but you've clearly lost your mind." He flung the Kunai at Dan, watching the white-haired enemy's face frown angrily before dodging back a few feet.

~"That coming from the man who caused my death? How idiotic. How has she lost her mind when it was you who was so blind with jealousy that you let those Shinobis kill me? You didn't even try to help when I was lying there bleeding to death."

~Both Tsunade, who was kicking and flailing on Jiraiya's shoulder and the perverted sage himself, froze. "What does he mean?" She asked, voice barely making it above an appalled sigh.

~"He's lying, Tsunade. He's trying to confuse you. You know what happened in the end."

~"Am I?" Dan asked with a sneering grin. He drew a few steps closer, careful to avoid another thrown Kunai blade that whizzed past his head and drew a line of black blood on his cheek. "We were on the same team together, told to save some prisoners from Sound's prison camp. We fought over you, Tsunade, and Jiraiya left me there alone. Next thing I know, a few nin from Sound were on my tail…" His voice trailed off, but the Hokage all ready knew the last tidbits of the story.

~"Y-you said you lost sight of him when you were attacked!" Tsunade screamed, flailing once more and gaining her freedom at last. "You promised me you would protect him!"

~"I tried!" Jiraiya defended, "I wanted to protect him for you, but I couldn't find him after we fought. He'd left camp!"

~"You were always trying to get between Dan and I," Tsunade shouted incredulously, her mind going through all the scenes over the relationship between herself and Dan where Jiraiya seemed to constantly impose himself. There were too many times to count.

~"He was jealous," Dan said, taking another step closer, a hand on his hip while the other reached out for Tsunade.

~"But I would never have hurt you, Tsunade. Not for anything!" The sage struggled to keep his wits about him, even as Tsunade fought to unravel them. The air was thick with blood, sweat, and drowning levels of chakra. It was driving him crazy, forcing him almost into a heated frenzy.

~"Jiraiya was the reason I was taken from you," Dan muttered with disgust, so close to Tsunade now he could taste her blood.

~The blonde's eyes glared disbelieving daggers at her current lover, loathing him with every fiber of her being, "I hate you." She ground out, almost shaking with fury, "I wish you had died instead!"

~Dan moved then, too quickly for the distracted Kunoichi to notice, but Jiraiya did and he snatched up the woman's arm, slamming her to his chest while his white chakra screamed to life and formed around him one of his less famous moves. The Needle Jizo. All around him, an encasing shell of needle-like hair served as a barrier between the two of them and Dan.

~"What?" Tsunade asked, the sudden rage within her had gone silent and the confusing feelings in the air that seemed to choke out her senses and level-headed thinking were completely realigned. Jiraiya's chakra had burned away the maddening craze in her mind and Tsunade found herself back to normal.

~Jiraiya groaned lowly, holding onto Tsunade as tightly as he could, not wanting for one second to give up the delicate scent of tobacco and sake. He loved this smell, could sit for years simply admiring it, because it was the wonderful aroma from the woman he loved more than his own life.

~"Are you… all right?" The male Sannin asked, the grit in his tone was apparent, but there was concern there as well.

~"I think so," Tsunade said, the warm feeling of love emanating from Jiraiya down to her very core. "I think I'm okay now, as well. I don't feel crazy or out of control."

~"That… that's good," he whimpered, arms slackening.

~"Are you all right, Jiraiya?"

~"N-never better…" He looked down at her smiling adoringly, "I love you…"

~"What? I know you do, but this isn't the right time for this—"

~"Needle Hell!" Jiraiya shouted and his hair, which had protected them both like a cocoon, jettisoned outward like a million small, shard-like weapons, all aimed for one person.

~With enough light to see now, Tsuande looked down at the slimy wetness that was suddenly cold on her hand from the light breeze. It was blood. Her welling fear of the red essence shot a lightning quick jab up her spine and she frantically looked for the source of it.

~In Jiraiya's side sat an old, rusted Kunai, the small handle lined with poisonous, hallow-shelled Senbon needles. The hilt and protruding ends of the weapon were doused in a viscousy black liquid, of the same texture and color as the blood on Dan's cheek.

~The dead man had aimed the blade for her, but had been set off course by Jiraiya's defensive barrier and ended up getting hit himself. Although, it didn't seem to disturb the zombified man any, he ended up killing one of them. That had been the goal.

~Dan lie on the ground where the force of the hair needles had flung him, his carcass littered in too many to count, white hairs that covered nearly his entire body. He was still conscious, that much had been ascertained by Tsunade, but she was too busy holding a fallen Jiraiya's head in her lap to care.

~"Don't you dare die," Tsunade growled out viciously, "don't you die, you stupid man!" She was struggling to heal his wound, but the poison from Dan's dead blood was all ready turning the toad sage's veins black as it spiraled up from his side and towards his heart.

~Tears were beginning to fill the Hokage's brown eyes, this couldn't happen again, not a second time. She couldn't let another lover die because of her inability to heal them. "I can't draw out the poison!" She was yelling now, frustrated and angry. From a few yards away, Tsunade could hear Shizune's shouts, but it didn't matter, nothing else did but Jiraiya at that moment.

~Jiraiya reached up and grabbed Tsunade's hand gently, bringing it to his lips to place a soft kiss upon the fingertips. "It's all right." His face had taken on an ashen color, he didn't have much longer.

~"No!" Tsunade screamed, pressing more healing and searching chakra into Jiraiya's open wound, fighting to catch up to the poison that was no spreading throughout his heart. "It's not all right!"

~"I'm glad…" He brushed a strand of flyaway hair out of Tsunade's face and smiled happily, as if there was no more pain, "I'm glad you… shared your life with me." His hand dropped limply to his chest and he took a last breath. And then he was gone.

~"No…" Tsunade whispered quietly, "no… No! No! NO!" She felt her inner demons working their way to the surface, struggling to be heard. She clutched to Jiraiya's lifeless form, hugging his face to her chest, and trembling with rage.

~"That disgusting toad needed to die," Dan muttered, climbing to his feet. He was pulling needles from his face, one in particular from his eyes, where the pupil was spinning wildly in its socket, useless.

~"You're not Dan," Tsunade growled out darkly, her quivering finally ceasing and she set Jiraiya head down lovingly onto the ground. "Dan would never say something like that about a friend."

~The white-haired Shinobi pulled out more needles and glared at the Hokage with his one working eye, "shows how much you know about me."

~"No," Tsunade got to her feet, her blonde hair covering her heated expression, "I know_ exactly_ the man Dan was. And you are _not_ him!" Her chakra blazed to life, overwhelming and hot, rippling out in almost physical waves that poured over the bloody and gory battlefield. She charged forward for Dan, crushing her fists into his face and his body, pressing as much chakra as she could into each blow, hoping to inflict as much pain on this man as had been done to her.

* * *

**Shizune Kato Age: 36**

* * *

~Few things in life seemed to shake the medical nin down to her very core, one of those times was when she was given the opportunity to clean and heal some of Kakashi Hakate's wounds, while he was completely naked. The second time was when she realized what was bringing these monster corpse shells of loved ones thought gone, to life.

~She didn't flinch when she saw the walking dead shell of her beloved uncle, didn't bat an eye when she watched the childish ravings of her sensei as the distraught woman tried to make sense of her haywire emotions brought on by the battle, the smell of blood, and the transluscent poison powder that was thick in the air, dampening the senses and hampering the mind.

~When the Dan lookalike stabbed Jiraiya through, Shizune felt her heart clench, unable to do anything as she fought off more walking dead enemies. She watched Tsunade's heart break, her own tearing inside her when the woman could do nothing to save the second man she ever loved. It was a disastrous wheel of fate Tsunade and Jiraiya had been place upon, both unable to get off. One was always chasing the other, never quite able to reach the perfect middle ground.

~As Tsunade attacked Dan without mercy, her waves of immense power nearly shorting out Shizune's own rather sharp senses, she had no doubt who would win.

~Blow after lethal blow landed upon the disguised corpse. First a limb was torn off, than a leg. Tsunade was slowly, painfully taking Dan apart bit by little, painful bit. Soon the man would be nothing more than a writhing slab of thoughtless flesh, where it could return to the dirt from whence it came.

~Finally, Shizune broke free of her captors and raced to Tsunade side, the heaving woman having collapsed to her knees, hugging herself as if to let go would mean she would lose herself.

~"Lady Tsunade," Shizune began, "we have to hurry or we're going to lose the fight."

~"What does it matter?" The Hokage said hopelessly, "we're all going to die anyway." She hugged herself tighter.

~"No, my lady. I've found what makes these things come alive, but I need your help." Shizune was pleading, kneeling down beside her mistress and taking the woman's shoulder gently into her grasp. "Come on, don't let Sage Jiraiya's sacrifice be in vain."

~Tsunade was quiet for a long few seconds, but she finally looked up in her apprentice's hopeful eyes and saw truth and optimism hiding there. "What is it?"

~"The Akatsuki member Zetsu is a plant based creation Kazechi made, he is dousing the battlefield in some kind of plant spore that's driving our ninjas crazy and bringing the dead to life. We need to stop him."

~Tsunade sighed heavily, looking solemnly over to the unmoving body of Jiraiya. She couldn't stand the thought of the enemy using her precious loved ones against her ever again. She climbed to her feet and nodded, "let's go."

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**Author's Note:** I KNOW I SAID THIS WAS THE LAST CHAPTER… But a million pages into this chapter and I realized many of you would have a coronary if I kept going. So, I've broken up the final chapter into 2 installments. Please read and review, I know the chapter is rough, but like I've said before, I will correct all grammatical mishaps after the fiction has been completed, and I will clean up the messy plotlines during that clean up. Enjoy! R&R!


	32. End of the Game

**Author's Note:** I know I said last chapter would be the final one, but about 28 pages into writing the _last_ supposed chapter, I figured you all would have a coronary when you realized how long the final chapter was. So I split it into 2 parts and let it fly. Hope you have enjoyed my story. The epilogue is next.

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**Update!** I'm so sorry I uploaded the wrong version of this chapter this first time and had to reupload it. I will make a note in the epilogue so other readers will know to come back and reread what was missed.

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**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

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**Chapter 32**  
**End of The Game**

"_Those who are frightened by_

_The flame of truth,_

_Will inevitably, get burned by it."_

~Lady A.R.R.O.

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**Toad Sage Jiraiya Age: 60**

* * *

~The sage was falling slowly, could feel coldness sinking into his body as the tepid temperature of the water around him went through him, but did little to warm his blood. This was death, at least the beginning stages of it. He'd always imagined when he died that he would be surrounded by light and would see the face of Kami, or Buddha, someone, something, anything, but this was nothing. All there was… was dark water.

~As he sank, he meandered through the ritualistic memories of his past; hearing, feeling, sensing, smelling, seeing, touching. He could hear his the clash of kunais during the academy, feel the pain of a broken bone from arduous missions, sense another's chakra as he went in for the kill, smelled ramen after a hard day's work, saw his pupils as they made him proud… and felt the light touch of loved ones he knew he would miss in the afterlife.

~_"I… I can't believe it's over all ready. I thought I would have more time to write a more suitable ending than this one. Is this really how the tale of Jiraiya the Gallant ends?"_ His body fell further from the light above and below, the darkness began to consume him. Soon, he wouldn't be able to see his own hand in front of his face and for some reason Jiraiya was worried.

~_"What about the war?"_ He asked himself, almost expecting someone or something to answer him, _"what about Naruto? Or Sakura? What about…" _His mind flashed the pretty face of a young blonde woman, smiling down at him, those entrancing honey tinted eyes sparkling all for him. _"…Tsunade…"_

~_"I've failed them. I've failed all of them. My whole life is just one big failure. One after another."_ Naruto's Cheshire cat grin flashed in his mind then, the boy he'd taken under his wing for sage training and for teachings on how to control the Kyuubi demon within him. There was his friendship with the Third that he cherished desperately and the eyes of Minato who wisely stared at him with childish curiosity and grew into a great man before his very eyes. He saw Tsunade's exhausted face always lighting up whenever she saw him._ "Maybe… Maybe it wasn't all a failure. Maybe I did some good. I left behind those who could carry on. And isn't that what it means to leave behind those who love you? They'll carry on the memory for those who can't."_

~The darkness was so thick now that it was almost tangible, a nearly living thing that swirled around him, blanketed him, choked him, and in his torso a dull ache was beginning to take form. He grunted tiredly, but continued to ponder, _"I don't want to die yet though. I still want to finish this chapter and then I'll go quietly into the black… Just let me finish…" _His consciousness was fading, but his mind continued to race, _"Just one… more… chapter…"_

~Eyes watched him falling and floating amidst the endless gloom and darkness. Golden eyes, laced with a small sparkle of green with their hanging façade smiled slightly. _"Alright, but only one last chapter. Now wake up, Old Sage."_

~_"Jiraiya!"_ A voice called out to him. It was so familiar, but so far away. The pain in his side was becoming more than a dull ache, moving straight into full blown pain.

~_"Master Jiraiya!"_ Another cried, again familiar but too far away to acknowledge. A headache was beginning to form now

_~"Old man!"_

_~"Sensei!"_

_~"Pervert!"_

_~"JIRAIYA!"_

~Master Jiraiya's eyes bolted open and the bright light blinded him. He groaned and fought to roll to his side where he blatantly threw up violently, leading him into a fit of tremors and shakes. Beside him someone was talking incessantly, their voice drilling into his breaking mind and tearing him apart.

~"Be… quiet!" Jiraiya croaked, running a hand down to his abdomen and touching the pained spot. When he pulled his hand back it was covered in blood, but at least it was his own, no black ooze or poison that he could detect, simply a deep wound.

~The voices went only a slight bit quieter, but whispered chatterings continued even as Jiraiya muttered for silence. He looked around at length and found several young medics fawning over him, each one blurring to and fro like headless chickens. The sage found it both amusing and worrisome. At his left and right there were endless rows of cots and bed rolls, each one filled with wounded and dying, both ninja and civilian alike. This truly was war and Jiraiya found that this whole ordeal left a bitter, metallic taste in his mouth that he hated, and it wasn't the blood that coated the roof of his mouth and tongue.

~"Better get up," he muttered and grunted as he struggled valiantly to his feet, but a Suna medic caught him and almost whapped him over the head with her doctoring instruments.

~"Lay down, sir! You're in no condition to be—"

~"There's a war to fight, girl. Give me a soldier pill and let me go," he focused his eyes solely on the black haired young woman and watched as she stuttered and searched for a reply, but found none and grudgingly reached into her side pack for the requested item. When she produced it finally, Jiraiya snatched it up and popped it into his mouth before the young medic could utter a sound.

~"Thanks, now just give me some gauze and we'll wrap this wound up right." He showed her the wound and grinned tiredly, somewhere in the back of his mind knowing he was now on borrowed time and he needed to make every second count.

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**Kakashi Hatake Age: 36**

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~There was never a time when the dog masked Shinobi ever felt a spine tingling streak of fear run down his back. He'd been trained for far too long and seen more dead bodies than the average ninja, but something about seeing the reanimated corpses of those who had once fallen in battle was a trying experience that played tricks on Hakate's mind.

~Something wasn't right in the air, a cold trickle of waning control had begun slipping from his mind as the battle started, causing the strange sensations of being watched to raise the hairs on the back of the gray-haired man's neck. Someone or something was watching him with angry eyes, boring holes through him as they waited for Kakashi to make the first move.

~The screaming battle of a losing war raged around him on all sides, many of the countrymen who weren't ninjas were falling like fodder flies to the better, more trained abilities of the enemy. And even those brave souls who did manage to fell one of the soulless dead, were cut down by another who replaced their fallen brethren without end.

~They were losing this fight and quickly. It was then that Kakakshi realized that even with the amassed armies of so many, they stood no chance against Kazechi's dead fighters. The battle was lost before it had even begun, but people were still fighting it, no one had retreated… yet.

~Something Gai had said to him once years ago continued to ring in the Hatake's mind, _"it's better for youth to fight and die on their feet, than to live a frightened life of retreat on their knees."_ And for once, Kakashi thought his old friend was absolutely right.

~"Kakashi Hatake," a voice hissed on the wind and the owner of the name turned slowly to face his enemy. It had been twenty-three years since he'd heard that voice, the graininess of it sent reverberating shockwaves up and down Kakashi's body. The last time he'd heard that voice, it was begging him, pleading with him, and then it died. _He_ died.

~"Obito," Kakashi breathed, staring hard at the swirling orange mask that had no beginning or end.

~"You know me?" Tobi asked, taken aback that anyone knew his real name. No one had uttered it since Kazechi had pulled him back from the depths of the black hell hole he'd fallen into. Before then, Tobi couldn't recall anyone who'd ever called him that name before, but he knew it was his name. His _real_ name.

~"Yes." Kakashi watched as Obito's Akatsuki coat ruffled lightly in the wind, bringing the odd stench of blood, but living flesh to the ANBU's nose. He had a vastly different scent than the other living dead he'd been fighting all morning. Obito Uchiha smelled… alive.

~"How do you know me?" Obito's head cocked slightly to the side immaturely, almost childishly.

~"You don't remember?" Came the rebuttal question.

~There was a long few seconds were the one-eyed, orange mask, stared back silently at the ANBU dog. A vivid rush of emotions Tobi couldn't place had begun welling up inside him, and the image of a young, pretty girl with dark brown hair and bright brown eyes stared up at him from a still picture he'd seen somewhere before.

~"I remember a girl," he whispered, the insanity that had plagued the masked Akatsuki member for more than two decades was suddenly clear, sparked by the voice of a man he was sure he'd never met before.

~"Rin," Kakashi stated with a knowing tone.

~Tobi groaned suddenly, too many racing memories were bombarding his mind, hurting him, making him want to cry, but he couldn't. His master would punish him if he ever cried again; would send him back to that dark, black hole he'd been floating in for so long.

~"Tobi's a good boy," the Akatsuki member hissed and took a menacing step forward, snatching wildly at his sword, ringing it from its scabbard and aiming it for Kakashi's heart. "I'm coming to kill you, Mister Kakashi!" He charged for the ANBU Captain, his Sharingan eye swimming in a pool of moisture as he fought to hold in the painful emotions.

~Metal clanged loud against metal, Kakashi's own blade shakily slammed into Tobi's, drawing sparks as both Shinobi's vied for dominance, though both seemed at a standstill for strength, neither one able to overpower the other.

~Tobi leapt back and slashed again, his enemy parrying with a swing of his own, but the orange masked menace threw a few Kunai in the process, watching in satisfaction as Kakashi flipped away to block the onslaught of coming metal with his arm guard.

~From the barrage of flying Kunais, Kakashi almost didn't see Tobi's charge, the glinting shimmer of the Akatsuki's blade the only tell as swords came together in an angry dance of wills. They fought back and forth, an attack for a defense, a defense parrying an attack.

~Something warm dribbled down Kakashi's cheek from behind his mask then, hot and painful as a jab of agony clutched tight in his left eye. His Sharingan, the one Obito had given to him. No amount of training could have prevented Kakashi from feeling the pain of his friend. As Obito had once said before his death in their earlier lives, _"I'll be your eye to see the future."_ It was true in a sense, there always a piece of Kakashi's best friend looking out for him, glancing into the enemy's mind to see the next move. Obito had always protected him, and for that Kakashi was eternally grateful.

~_"Tears,"_ Kakashi thought, slicing at Tobi's arm, watching the shadow clone's severed limb go rolling across the arid ground before both the appendage and Tobi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

~Tobi came falling in from the sky, stabbing into the earth while Kakashi dodged, swinging his foot around and catching the black robed man off-guard momentarily. There was a resounding cracking sound as three of Tobi's ribs broke, sending the shocked Shinobi bouncing of few yards back. His mask smashed against a rock and broke it partially off his face, flashing a portion of Tobi's right side. He looked marringly scarred, and his right Sharingan spun wildly in its socket, fighting to focus amidst the barrage of pain.

~"How? Tobi can see the future! How can Mister Kakashi beat Tobi?" The Akatsuki rookie was talking to himself, clutching tight to his ribs, and struggling to get to his feet. His lone eye was swimming in tears, the bubbling moisture cascading down his face.

~"Because," Kakashi started, "I have a piece of you."

~"Y-you do?" Tobi looked almost innocent as he took a step forward, reaching out for Kakashi haltingly.

~"You gave me your eye before you died."

~"I-I died?" Tobi's expression looked appallingly shocked. He fell to his knees, reaching for his mask to throw it away, to get the awful, stifling thing away from him. He didn't want it anymore, knew that it represented too many painful occurrences in his life that came from a false god king.

~Kakashi was at a loss for words, finding himself unable to locate any comforting thoughts to ease the insanity plaguing Tobi. He watched in silence as the rookie sobbed and curled in a ball amidst a puddle of blood. The crashing realization of memories the Akatsuki Shinobi didn't know he had, became overwhelming, so much so that the blubbering mass of flesh had become useless in every sense of the word.

~The son of the White Fang of Konoha drew cautiously closer, taking his own mask and pushing it up and off of his face. He knelt down beside Tobi and placed two fingers on the man's trembling shoulder, hoping that it would give him some comfort.

~"I remember," Obito's voice rang out through the immature one that was the Akatsuki member Tobi, pushing back the veil of decades long insanity that Kazechi had placed upon him. "I did die," he murmured, the tears and sobs finally quieting, "but someone pulled me out of the darkness."

~"Kazechi?" Kakashi offered, but Obito shook his head.

~"I heard Madara's voice, and Izuna's, and greatgrandpa Kagami's. I could only hear the voices of Uchihas, telling me I had to live. When I woke up, I saw Kazechi and Orochimaru, but I couldn't remember who I was or who I had heard in the darkness." Obito turned his face slightly, fixed his remaining eye upon his friend and smiled kindly, "you look old, Kakashi."

~Kakashi chuckled, pulling down his mouth covering. His weeping left eye almost smiling as it looked upon its old master, "have you looked in a mirror lately?"

~The two of them laughed over the immature joke, but the happy sound was cut short when Obito's body suddenly tensed up. His Sharingan spun wildly in his head, and a pained scream left the Shinobi's lips as a burning sensation spidered out from the confines of his skull. His entire eye faded to a blurring white-out and he was once again under Kazechi's infinite control.

~Climbing to his feet as Kakashi jumped back, Obito limply flung his sword at his friend, body acting like some lifeless marionette doll tethered to loose strings. He charged Kakashi again, that one white eye, fading back and forth from wash out to grainy gray, and though Kakashi had never actually seen the god of winds before, he somehow knew it was the god's eyes coming through his friend.

~_"I have to save him this time,"_ Kakashi's mind reeled, he didn't have it in him to allow Obito to die a second time, not when the White Fang could do something about it. His own Sharingan began to swirl and he charged for Obito.

* * *

**Naruto Uzumaki Age: 20**

* * *

~An odd chill ran up the blonde's back as a growing pain in his chest thrummed wildly. Something wasn't right, and it wasn't the way these corpses continued to get up after they had been mauled beyond recognition, something else infinitely worse had happened, or was happening and Naruto hadn't a clue as to what it was.

~Beside the Jinchuriki a few paces off, Neji gripped tight to an injured TenTen, struggling as best he could to fend off more enemy troops while trying to wrap her deep wound. She was fighting against the waves of tears, gritting her teeth and grinding them as Neji dug out another Senbon Needle.

~Some random corpse too marred to identify came warbling up to Neji, limply dragging a bloody pike. It dead eyes glared daggers at the kneeling duo, a mouth full of rotting teeth smiling disgustingly as it raised the pike for a final blow, but the Hyuuga raised a fist in quick reaction, shattering the corpse to smithereens with a well placed blast of white chakra. He felt his energy fading, could feel the pulsing pain in his head, right behind his eyes. In only a few minutes, Neji knew he would run out of steam, his ability to protect and save the women he loved would become voided and they would both die painfully if he didn't get them out of there.

~"Neji! Behind you!" TenTen screamed, flinging her injured arm out to defend her lover from the falling blade. Their bodies both fell to the bloody battlefield in a heap, Neji shielding his woman with his body as best he could from the searing barrage of sword attacks he wasn't able to fend off. There was a long few moments where the Hyuuga male laid there and waited, wondering if dying was painless. In all his years as a Shinobi he couldn't imagine dying to be a gentle affair, he'd seen too many screaming enemies, crying friends, and others all in the throes of death and not going into it quietly.

~"You're hurting me, Neji," TenTen groaned out, the blood from her wound seeping into his all ready stained shirt.

~Neji clambered almost dumbly to his knees and looked around frantically for the enemies that were sure to have killed them both.

~There was a flurry of black movement followed by a pale skinned Shinobi using painting jutsus like mad. Inked lions were leaping from the pages of his special jutsu art book, followed in close suit by a parade of angry snakes, dragons, and war horses, all stampeding through the enemy lines and decimating the forces without a flit of effort.

~Behind Sai raced Ino, her eyes jerked to Neji and TenTen, nodding to them as she blazed passed and slammed a chakra laden foot into the gnarled face of a rising corpse fighting to get to its feet. She slammed a Kunai right in the thing's forehead and threw the blade away before any of the bubbling black, oozing blood managed to touch her. She'd seen many of the others die from that obsidian poison and wasn't about to get it near her.

~"Hurry and get TenTen out of here," Ino yelled over the rising squall of battle, realizing her friend's injuries were worse than she had originally concluded when Neji had to pick her up to drag her away. She prayed that her little distraction had offered enough time for them to get to safety, if not, than it was all for naught.

~"Ino! Behind you!" Sai's voice cut through the air like a freshly sharpened blade, but he reacted too slowly, unable to command one of his fu dogs to protect quickly enough. He watched in muted horror as a corpse that resembled another of Konoha's dead flung itself at the unprepared blonde.

~She spun around, eyes widening as a sword sung through the air and cut into porcelain flesh. Fabric tore, blood rushed, and the only Yamanaka child let out a squeal, slipping to the ground as her hands flew to her mouth.

~"_Get out of here!"_ Naruto shouted, blood streaming down his arm from the deep gash the sword had made. His aura welled up brightly, changing pieces of the Dobe's human body into his more animalistic counterpart. Claws grew and fangs overlapped his lips as the rising fury began to overtake him. Behind him, Ino managed to scramble to her feet, clambering towards Sai as the art nin fought back more hordes of walking dead. They needed to get away from their blonde friend before his rage overtook them and the whole battlefield.

~Naruto lashed out at the outstretched corpse, gripping the thing's face and tearing it off without a flit of effort. The black oozing liquid sprayed everywhere, but Uzumaki was already too far gone to calm his screaming temper, not even feeling the burning acid of the obsidian blood as it scorched his skin.

~He yanked out the protruding weapon from his mangled arm, growling violently as his blood boiled and hissed from the poison. All around the Jinchuriki, corpses were rising from the dirt, each one with their own village's headband, or none at all. Many were contorted and broken, and some so decayed they hadn't any features left to be distinguished by.

~"Fall back!" Sai was screaming to his unit, many of his drawings taking on defensive stances as they surrounded the weaker fighters against the never ending onslaught.

~_"Let me out,"_ Kyuubi whispered, voice dripping with malicious intent and as the swarming masses of living dead began to thicken, Naruto wondered vaguely in the back of his fading consciousness if that wasn't just the thing they needed to turn the tides of this war.

~Looking inside himself, Naruto let his human mind come into contact with the consciousness of the nine-tail, coming face to face once again with the being that he had to share his physical body and mental mind with his entire life. Both of them had been in this position before, simply staring each other down, watching and waiting. Neither wanted to make the first move, but both knowing it needed to be done.

~_"I feel my brothers in arms," _Kyuubi warbled, sensing the growing power of Shukaku, the one tail within the Kazekage Gaara streaming to life somewhere in the distance. The red-head having finally let go of the vice-like restraints he'd placed upon the demon to contain its power. Elsewhere, Hachibi had begun his attack on the castle, having finally made it to the building's side, but not without help from Shukaku and Gaara, Yagura and Kyodaigame. _"Free me! I wish to fight too!"_

~"How can I trust that you won't hurt anyone but our enemies?" Naruto replied, feeling the pulsing anger from the fox as those floating red eyes hiding in the blanketing darkness narrowed to slits.

~_"Let me protect my mother. I will bring back your friend alive and we will end this war."_ Its voice tried to convey a sense of urgency, needing Naruto's permission to break free of his holding boundaries, needing this chance to tear into the flesh of the one who dared place harm in the being who birthed all of their collective, demon consciousnesses.

~"Can I trust you?"

~Kyuubi's anger flared and it flashed forward inside its dark prison, smashing against the bars and making a rumbling sound that shook Naruto's mind, _"you need me!"_ It was screaming, rocking back and forth, creating earthquakes and tremors. The boy had to see, _needed_ to see that the fox demon had to be present. Something inside the nine-tail's mind egged him to break free of his holdings and be set loose like his brothers, the fiend simply couldn't place what this urgent feeling was.

~Naruto could hear with his physical ears the sounds of the war raging all around him, his corporeal eyes seeing, but not seeing. They were open, but saw nothing. All Naruto could do was hear, and all he heard was the clashing of weapons, the buzzing of his chakra surging as it encompassed him, and the crackling of corpses smashing against Kyuubi's power barrier.

~_"Choose!"_ The fox demon hissed, _"free me. End this war or everyone you love will die."_

~For a moment, Naruto held himself back, debating with the sane parts of his head as to the consequences that could follow this potentially hazardous decision, but the terrifyingly apparent need to end this battle won out in the end and he grabbed hold of the sealing ropes holding his inner demon back, cutting them.

~Kyuubi watched with barely containable excitement as the golden ropes disintegrated to ash and the seal disappeared. It laughed maniacally, flaming up and lighting the darkness until there wasn't a place for the shadows to hide.

~Naruto covered his eyes against the brightness, feeling the overwhelming heat consume him, but he didn't burn. He slowly opened his eyes to the demon, allowing his gaze to span up at the red-orange fox standing over him with a toothy, Cheshire cat grin, chakra radiating out all around the demon like dancing flames. It leaned down toward him until it was eye-level and gave Naruto an acknowledging nod, _"we will destroy them… together."_

~The demon pressed his nose forward to touch Naruto's own and the sudden transfer of power, knowledge, and wisdom flowed into the blonde in only a matter of milliseconds. Pictures and images of the past surfaced in the young Shinobi's mind. Every last container had a name, and a face, and a history. He saw his mother, his grandmother, his great-grandmother, every container used since the first time Kyuubi had been trapped inside a human body. He felt their strength, their chakra, their energies flowing through him. And at last, he saw their pasts. He saw through his mother's eyes, her life, the man she loved, his father… Minato, the fourth. He saw his father smile, felt the brimming love and ardent need his mother felt for this man their son would never get to know, and finally he saw his own birth, the start of everything in his life.

~_"Hello,"_ a quiet, feminine voice said, startling Naruto from his visions. The young ninja turned, seeing himself in the reflections of the glass replicating back to him the way he saw himself. He was twelve again; excitable, easily distracted, rambunctious, and hell-bent.

~_"Hello, Naruto," _the woman said again and this time, a soft, cream colored hand touched his shoulder and the blonde looked up into the face of his mother, Kushina. Even though he'd never been formally introduced, had never spoken to her, had never even seen a picture of her—aside from the Kyuubi's images— he knew this was the woman who gave birth to him, and in the end… gave Naruto her life.

~"Mother," he whispered breathily, unable to speak any louder for fear of it scaring the woman off.

~Kushina smiled radiantly, running her slender fingers through her son's unkempt hair, _"you're so handsome—"_

~_"Just like his dad,"_ Minato melded from the darkness beside his wife, grinning in that same familiar expression Naruto had seen on himself his entire life. A welling of pride grew in his chest as he realized he looked just like his father, and the small puzzle pieces of his life that didn't make sense before were suddenly falling into place. Kakashi's small inferences, the Third's whispered comments; they were all making sense now. Naruto was the son of the Fourth Hokage and the son of another container like himself. He may not have known them personally, or known much about them, but they were a part of him as much as he was a part of them. In a way, he knew more about them than anyone else.

~_"You can do this with the nine-tail,"_ Kushina assured, _"he will help you to end this war."_

~"But… what if—"

_~"You're strong, like us. You can always contain the Kyuubi, trust in yourself,"_ Minato interrupted, half grinning. He reached out and ruffled up his son's head lovingly, the way he would have done had he been able to live long enough for that.

~Naruto wore a serious expression then, looking up into the adoring faces of his loving family, "I wish… I wish you both had been there." Their collective faces both fell and sadness seeped in.

~_"I know,"_ his mother forlornly murmured, but she looked up with unfallen tears brimming in her eyes and flashed a sweet smile, _"we were always with you, Naruto. We never left you alone. You just couldn't see us."_

~The blonde Dobe looked down at his sandaled feet, thinking for a moment of all the times he sat alone and afraid, begging for anyone to hear his cries, but no one had come. Then something came to mind, there was always this shining light inside him that burned whenever he was alone, or when he watched other children with their families while he cried in silence. It had always been warm, sparkling inside his heart and giving him the strength to keep going, even when he didn't think he could.

~They weren't lying, they _had_ always been there. Maybe not in the physical form as a child needs and Naruto had always wanted, but there people who had come into his life who had taken on the form of both his father and his mother. Like Iruka, Kakashi, and Jiraiya. Then there was Lady Tsunade and even Sakura at times. In the end, Naruto had never truly been alone, merely waiting for the right people to come into his life.

~The blonde looked up grinning ear to ear and flung himself at his parents, hugging them both tightly. "Thank you!" He laughed out, "thank you for always being there." Somewhere in the background an explosion was heard, shaking this quiet realm snuggly stationed within the confines of Naruto's mind.

~"It's time for me to leave, isn't it?" He asked them and both parents nodded sadly. "Will I ever get to see you again?"

~Minato looked at his wife with an odd expression, but was his wife who spoke, _"not in this life, Naruto. But we will _always_ be with you."_

~"Believe it!" He shouted and scrambled off as another bomb went off somewhere close by. There was only a moment that he turned around to look at his parents as they faded off into the darkness, waving to them and smiling like the cat who had just caught a mouse. This was all he required, there was nothing else that needed to be said between his parents and himself. He knew everything he desired to and nothing more.

~_"Ready?"_ The Kyuubi growled all around Naruto.

~"Ready," the young man answered back and leapt off the black edge and into the abyss. He closed his eyes, feeling the waves of warbling chakra streaming through him, empowering him and strengthening his already explosive potential.

~As Naruto's eyelids came open, he realized he'd transformed. His body glowed a bright, flaming orange as the tails of the fox billowed out behind him, waving back and forth in the breeze. He looked to his right and saw Gaara amidst his One-Tail transformation, batting at corpses left and right, knocking down waves of them easily. In the distance Hachibi was leading an assault on the castle, tearing it to pieces and fighting to break it to it foundations, but it was apparent that the god Kazechi himself had now joined the fight. Alongside him, a starry colored goddess floated around Killer B, raining down large boulders in an attempt to fend him off. The entire battlefield was simply chaos.

~_"Time to play,"_ both Naruto and Kyuubi said simultaneously, leaping to Shukaku's aide and beating back the oncoming hordes.

* * *

**Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20**

* * *

~His face was screaming and vaguely, the cursing Uchiha wondered why everyone seemed to have this fascination with smashing his face, but tossed away the thought when a large, demonic arm slammed into the castle's side only feet away from himself and Sakura as they freefell.

~He could see the battle raging behind him, felt the tsunami waves of heat and stench overwhelming his senses. Things had only just begun to get hairy, and there would be much more to come.

~Sakura twisted in midair, turning to face her opponent with a devilishly disgusting smile adorning her transparent face. Her teeth were sharpened to pike points, a pink tongue lolling out of the side just before snaking back into her orifice as the gnashing teeth clenched tight and she fell towards him, gaining speed.

~Pulling at the moisture around her, Sakura formed a watery sword and made the first move, slashing at Sasuke's gut even as he struggled to weave away, but he'd been too slow and felt a seething rush of white hot pain course through his body from the freshly opened wound. His hand flung to it, even as the other snatched up Kusanagi to parry Sakura's oncoming blows.

~"Sakura!" He yelled, "stop it! I'm here to save you!"

~_"Nothing can save her now, whelp! She's mine!" _Kazechi's voice rang through Sakura's vocal cords, coarsely tainting the angelic image Sasuke had of the rosette in his mind as he found himself seeing a thin outline of the god appearing around Sakura's transparent form, as if the god of winds himself was struggling to come into focus.

~Sasuke let his gaze wander, seeing the ground coming up fast and knowing he needed to shield himself from the impact before it was too late. He flung Kusanagi into the tower's side, an explosion of sparks turning the blade red hot. The hilt was burning, scalding the flesh on his right hand until he had to steady his waning grip with his left. His side screamed in pain and released more pulsing essence, and then he hit the earth. He slammed into the ground with the force of a boulder having fallen from incredible heights into the calm pool below. Chunks of ground rippled and shattered beneath him, flying all around until the effects of gravity managed to kick in, but by then Sasuke was all ready preparing himself for the endless onslaught of slicing and slashing arcs thrown at him by the possessed Kunoichi.

~She fought as if her very life depended on it, going for every sweet spot, every vital pulse point, pushing with everything she had to end the life of Sasuke Uchiha and she wouldn't stop until either his heart stopped… or hers. Her eyes swirled with deadening dark, gray dark storm clouds raging with tempest force in place of green-gold.

~Face contorting into slivers of burgeoning frenzy; his indifferent mask was falling away and Sasuke found couldn't read the pinkette. She fought differently than he had ever seen her fight before. This wasn't about exact chakra control focused into inhuman strength, this was a barraging wave after wave of never ending attacks, intuitively centered on critical body points that would leave him bleeding to death in agonizing pain. This fighting style was most definitely _not_ Sakura Haruno. This was the fighting style of a true killer, someone who had killed not once or twice before, but thousands of times and without a shred of mercy.

~Sasuke dodged another blow, barely able to defend against the sudden gust of wind that kicked up like some living creature and tried to knock his legs out from under him. He fought to remember that he was fighting not only one goddess, but a god as well. Cursing inwardly, he activated his blood limit and snatched up some Shurikins, throwing them at her to test the extent of her drive.

~The sharp edges bit and dug into Sakura's body, but they did little to stop or prevent her assault. She either ignored the pain or Kazechi didn't allow her to feel it. He forced the transparent girl's body forward, as bright red, cherry tinted blood dribbled down her arms and legs, bringing color back into her flesh. Her wounds were the first to begin taking on their normal pink hue, spreading like wildfire up and down her body until everything of Sakura had gained back its original color.

~_"Hurts,"_ she whispered out through clenched teeth, but the loud buzzing of Kazechi's control drowned out any more conscious thought Sakura might have had. Her head twitched involuntarily and the god of winds took over her mind once more, driving the possessed Kunoichi ahead with iron clad resolve.

~The Uchiha son watched as the pregnant woman blurred ahead, her fingers moving into a swift jutsu and before his eyes a set of four Sakura's formed, all charging with murderous intent. They all tightly clutched onto clear swords made of shimmering liquid, coming at the obsidian haired Shinobi without forgiveness. When one blurred away, another Sakura form filled it place, one after the other, coming full force. Sasuke felt like he was in a cyclone of attacks, twisting and churning about him until he was battered and bloody, unable to catch sight of even one Kunoichi with his Sharingan. He was going to be beaten, of that he was sure.

~The sound of poofing smoke and a shattering squeal reverberated off the insides of Sasuke's skull and he found himself staring into the vulpine eyes of his best friend, Naruto Uzumaki. The blonde had landed directly between Sakura and himself, shredding to pieces her shadow clones and bristling with an avalanche of chakra that blew Sakura back several yards.

~She stood dumbfounded, staring at the Jinchuriki before her, the whirling spin of Kazechi's gray tempest inside equally as stunned. He couldn't seem to believe his eyes that a demon of the Ten-Tail was standing here before him in all its unchained glory. A devilish smirk spread across Sakura's rose-colored lips as Kazechi's thoughts turned towards Ganimaru's special abilities. Absorption. An unchained demon tail would make far easier prey than one still forced to remain idle in the minds of their human counterparts and this one was ripe for the picking.

~_"Get him,"_ Kazechi ordered lowly, cackling laughter warbling out through Sakura's controlled lips. _"I want the nine-tail!"_

~The pinkette Kunoichi haltingly took a step forward, reaching her hand out for Naruto, but something in her mind screamed and begged her to stop. Her entire body shuddered and her hand dropped to her side.

~_"Do it, you stupid harpy bitch!"_ Kazechi was bellowing now, breaking away from Yagura's onslaught attack to race towards his possessed charge. He couldn't have his mind control faltering now, not when he was so close. With so few demons not in his collection, passing up this chance would have been asinine.

~_"Naruto?" _Sakura called out to the blonde amidst the hazy fog in her mind. She sensed him, could feel his energy all around her and it called to her, trying to pull her from the dark depths. _"Naruto, please. Help me,"_ she was begging now, struggling to find a way to free herself of the darkness and this constant haze, but every time to she tried to find the source of the warm light, it seemed to fall away from her.

~_"You're worthless. They won't come for you,"_ the god of winds was battering himself into her brain, beating her down until she was senseless and stupid.

~Sakura pulled away from the light, hugging herself close as the tears came like a toerrential flood, _"I am worthless… Who am I anymore?"_

_~"A Kunoichi not worth protecting! A useless Kunoichi, better off dead."_

~_"I'm 'a useless Kunoichi, better off dead'," _she repeated.

~_"It's better if you just listen and die."_

~_"But… but I don't want to die…"_

~Kazechi could feel the warbling power of Ganimaru shifting underneath the surface, awakening from her slumber as the calling need of her container and the rising power of the broken ten-tail nudged her from sleep. Too much longer of the pinkette's doubting and the wind god was sure his sister would rouse. His anger began to rise, bubbling over in his mind as he began to feel white hot fury overtake him. This woman would not ruin his plans, she would not be the reason he would fail at changing the world to his own design.

~Sasuke felt the god before he saw him, feeling the overwhelming tidal waves of chakra washing over him and numbing him to his core. This was nothing like Itachi's power, nothing like anything he'd had ever felt before. Even the sickening aura Orochimaru let off was dwarfed in comparison to that of a god's.

~He shivered involuntarily and looked to Naruto who was reaching out for Sakura's outstretched hand, trying to delve his Kyuubi into her, pulling out the Kunoichi from her stupefied state.

~"Don't touch her!" Sasuke screamed over the rising gale of wind that whipped up all around him, but his voice was drowned out and Naruto snatched up Sakura's hand.

~There was a flash of silver metal and a streak of blood as a sword was driven through the unsuspecting chest of the blonde Dobe. He didn't even see it coming and Sasuke was powerless to stop it.

~Naruto hissed wildly, the demon within him screeching from the pain. His tails exploded with power as he tried to free himself, but to no avail, Kazechi's immortal strength kept the sword rooted to the ground and his body pinned. Blood continued to pour out the fatal wound, splashing across the dirt and spreading like a darkened pool beneath him and Kazechi's mouth upturned into a sordid grin.

~The blonde suddenly knew he was going to die, no amount of struggling or fighting to survive would change this path. He glanced up as the misty darkness began to enfold on him, ignoring the Kyuubi as the fox demon screeched and strained.

~_"I just wish I could have accomplished my dreams…"_ His mind went blank and his chest let out a last held breath.

~Sakura's open, unseeing eyes stared at the scene before her, unable to stop or to aid. She was motionless and complacent, as Kazechi had left her, and as the drenching pool of blood reached her naked feet, something inside the Kunoichi began to awake.

~The light was gone, shattered beyond repair within her mind. The one who had come to rescue her was snatched from her grasp without mercy, struck down in the heat of battle all because of the pinkette's inability to protect herself.

~_"He's gone,"_ she murmured softly, feeling a portion of herself dying away as Naruto's chakra faded from her senses and all that remained was the untamed power of the demon fox.

~"Absorb him, Kunoichi. Take his power and make it your own before the nine-tail escapes!"

~"Sakura, stop! Don't do it!" Sasuke cleaved his way forward, through the cutting winds, feeling slivering wounds cut themselves open on his arms and face, dribbling thickly with blood.

~Sakura fell to her knees, her white-out eyes shifting continuously back and forth from white to green, green to gold, and gold to white. The battle she waged within herself was growing beyond what she could handle, her mind threatening to tilt off balance as the seconds ticked passed.

~Sasuke tore through the winds at length, blurring towards the pinkette as her hand would have reached out for the blonde's now lifeless cheek. His light, sky blue eyes hanging open as death began to claim his soul. The Uchiha tried to grab her hand, keep her from taking the nine-tail from their fallen comrade, somehow stave off the inevitable end for as long as he could, but Kazechi wasn't about to allow some Shinobi runt to ruin his plans finally coming to fruition.

~The god wrenched his sword from the Kyuubi's container corpse and slashed at Sasuke savagely, the Uchiha barely able to bring his own blade up in defense. He flung another attack at the mortal, the blade smashing into Kusanagi with all the force of a freight train and hurling Sasuke back several paces. The strength behind each blow was astronomical and the Uchiha didn't know for how long he could keep up this defense. Aside from the blood loss, the exhaustion, and lack of chakra, there was too much power and even his Sharingan eye couldn't keep up.

~"Boy, I should have killed you while I had the chance. You're nothing but an annoyance," the god blurred for Sasuke, leaving Sakura to haltingly deal with her raging demons. He made a swift jutsu sign and a controlled tornado sprang from his lips, disintegrating Sasuke's guard and wrestling the young man to ground.

~There was frantic moment that Sasuke fought to right himself, flipping over quickly and scrambling to his feet, but the a blade's edge bit into his back and he felt the undeniable pain of metal slicing arcingly through his body.

~Agony spread throughout him like wildfire, dropping him to his knees. His back burned and he couldn't catch his breath. Everything was on fire, his Sharingan spinning madly inside their sockets while Kunsanagi slipped from his blood slickened fingers. It clattered to the ground, forgotten and useless.

~Sasuke lethargically turned his head slightly to see Sakura. His thoughts were a mad raging inside his skull, battering themselves against their prison, each fighting to be heard. But suddenly a smile broke out on his face… Sakura's eyes were emerald green again… He fell to the ground, his breathing become shallower and shallower as he continued to bleed. One thought kept streaming through his mind, small and wanton, but a thought nonetheless.

~_"I wish I could've seen my sons…"_ And the darkness caved in.

~Sakura began to hyperventilate, her chest heaving as the waves on anguish and fury filled her to the breaking point. She was done, fed up with being protected. It got her nothing except broken friends and a never ending loneliness she didn't know how to dissipate.

~Golden threads of chakra surrounded her and climbing to her feet she gave Kazechi a hardened glare. He was going to die no matter what it took. Her friends had given their lives, their energy, their everything for her and she could be expected to give no less.

~Inside, Ganimaru's eyes opened and her consciousness leaked out into her container, taking over the young woman and imbuing her with the remaining vestiges of power. The time to act was now, if not now then never and Ganimaru would be damned if she was going to let her disgusting prick of a brother rule this planet they all had created so meticulously.

~The goddess leaned in close to Sakura's mind, wrapping her arms gently around the Kunoichi's awareness, _"let go, Sakura. Let it all go."_ Instantly, the pinkette's entire body burst with swirling energy, light green with heavy tones of glittering gold. They no longer battled for dominance, instead they mixed, coming together in a cataclysmic clash of unbridled energy. And Sakura let go… she let it all go.

* * *

**Tsunade Senju and Shizune Kato**

* * *

~"There he is," Shizune whispered, gripping tightly to her injured arm. She had let her guard down, even for only a second and it had cost her. A kunai had ripped into her right appendage, tearing the tendons and slicing through the muscle. It had all ready been too long since the accident that no amount of healing after this battle would save it, Shizune Kato would lose her right arm from the elbow down. But it wouldn't be in vain, the mishap had given the Hokage aunt and her apprentice niece the edge they'd needed to push through the final line of defense towards Zetsu.

~They could see him clearly now; the half man, half plant _thing_ was deeply rooted into the ground, pushing pulsing swells through his fibrous organs and dusting the battlefield was nearly microscopic pollen particles that seemed to stimulate the dead and agitate the living into enraged masses of unthinking flesh.

~Zetsu couldn't see or hear anything going on about him. He was doing as he had been instructed, what he had been created to do, nothing would deter him no matter the consequences.

~Surrounding him like watchful guards stood several cloaked Akatsuki members, and from the looks of it they were in primed and fighting condition.

~Tsunade counted out the protecting enemies; five and from her ANBU scrolls, she knew all of their names, except one. A masked man covered in black gossamer. He stood in the center, directly in front of Zetsu, motionless and unrepentant, simply waiting for someone… anyone to try and attack.

~"Who are they?" The dark-haired woman questioned, unable to put a name to any of their faces.

~"Konan, Pein, Kakuzu, Hidan, and I don't know the one dressed in black."

~"I-I don't know if we can beat them. I'm almost useless with this arm, Aunt."

~"You won't have to," Tsunade rose up from their hiding place, making herself known. The members of the guarding Akatsuki looked up disinterestedly, but found themselves suddenly interested in this Hokage of Leaf coming to entertain them. "I'll kill them all. You just kill Zetsu."

~"Aunt Tsunade, no!" Shizune scrambled to her feet, but the agonizing pain in her arm forced her to stay crouched. "You'll die! They'll kill you!"

~The Hokage turned and smiled hauntingly, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears, "what do you want me to die of, Shizune? Old age?" She laughed shortly and walked towards the closest member of the Akatsuki.

~"I will be your opponent," Tsunade said nonchalantly, almost as if this fight itself was going to bore her out of her mind. "My niece isn't a part of this."

~Konan came forward, gliding around Pein and came to stand in front of Tsunade. "I am Konan."

~"I know," the blonde returned.

~"I'm not going to fight you." Some of the others shifted their positions, going from one foot to other, but no one said a word. "I can't fight you."

~"I know." The trained eyes of the lifelong medical ninette missed nothing, not even the slight protrusion from the woman's cloak just below her breasts.

~Konan glanced in Pein's direction sadly and moved around Tsunade, as if to back up the blonde woman rather than her own team. "I'm tired of the fighting, Pein. I just want to go back to our village with you and raise the child I carry in peace." She spun on heel and made her way towards the exit, unbuttoning her red-cloud cloak and letting it slip from her shoulders. Underneath the covering, she wore a long cheongsam, slit up the front clear to the undersides of her ample breasts. A set of four balled studs held a diamond shape at her naval and they glittered in the low light of the wet, underground cave, bringing attention to the rounding bump that was just barely becoming discernible. She was no threat to the blonde Hokage and she let the darker haired woman pass without a second thought.

~Pein remained motionless, quiet contemplation crossing his emotionless façade and at length, he too stepped forward, unbuttoning his cloak and letting it fall to the dirt. His sleeveless black shirt was tucked neatly into his pants, held up by an equally obsidian obi tie and down his naked arms were two trails of studded piercings lining neatly from his wrists to his elbows. He would offer no more protection for the unawares plant member, his woman had spoken and he was to follow.

~Fighting had become something of a bore to him in recent years, and with the demise of nearly all of his goals in life for some insane god ready to break the world asunder, Pein had found himself without a clear heading in life. All that mattered now was Konan.

~He paused for a moment to look back at the men he once led into battle and shook his head, "I'm tired of fighting for something I don't believe in." And then he followed Konan out, their footfalls echoing down the tunnel until they were too far to be heard.

~"Anyone else want to leave while they still can?" Tsunade asked wearily, knowing the three remaining Akatsuki were itching for a fight with a strong opponent.

~"Can anyone join this fight?" A strikingly familiar voice resonated off the walls of the cave and froze the Hokage solid. She knew this voice, had fallen in love with it, and until only a few hours ago the voice had been permanently silenced.

~Sage Jiraiya came to stand beside the woman he loved, looking over at her with a playful grin, feeling her piercing gaze glaring at him in surprised wonderment.

~"H… How did you?"

~"Does it matter?" He rubbed her shoulder lightly and returned his gaze to the men before him, "I think it's time to lend our allies some aid."

~"FINALLY!" Hidan screamed, getting annoyed looks from his partner, Kakuzu. "Time to sacrifice some bitches!" He charged first, scythe extended and ready, while behind him the miserly penny pincher just rolled his eyes.

* * *

**Itachi Uchiha Age: 25**

* * *

~"Did you wake him?" Itachi was facing Deidara, sensing the blonde's apparent apprehension at the whole situation.

~"No, I'm not _that_ stupid, yeah. Just leave fish-breath there." He was helping the heavily gimping Han towards the underground caves, his own balance ready to teeter should the giant move too much. His stump was hurting him again and he cursed how badly he honestly needed his missing arm, things would be a whole damn lot easier with it.

~Itachi guided the still hazy brained Jinchurikis down the hall, leading the assault on any of the corpses should they feel so inclined to attack, but since the battle raged outside many of the risen dead had been called to the frontlines to be fodder for Kazechi's first waves.

~Behind the oldest Uchiha, the cat-tail held her gut, praying she didn't feel the need to stop and throw up again. Months spent in a glass coffin with tubes shoved down your throat for food and air wasn't one of the better ways she'd awoken in the mornings, but she couldn't say she could complain. She was alive, that's what counted and she hadn't thought she'd ever wake up alive again.

~She felt the gentle, helping hands of Utakata cautiously pushing her towards the exit, his own thoroughly molested person still strong from just hours of being under.

~Outside, things were getting rough, many of the hallways leading down to the castle's underbelly had been destroyed and blocked off thanks to the large bulk of the raging Jinchurikis fighting the battle outside. The group of seven Shinobis and Kunoichis had all ready traversed much of the castle, finally leaving the kicking and screaming Kisame in one of the broken hallways. He wasn't about to let the Jinchurikis leave, but Itachi had other ideas, placing the Mist-nin under a genjutsu and leaving him to fend for himself amidst the terrors of his own mind. They would have killed him, but the Uchiha hadn't wanted to expend that much energy.

~They were so close to freedom, they could practically taste it, having formed a kind of escape plan that revolved around dispersing Zetsu in the castle's underground and whatever Akatsuki members came knocking. At least with Zetsu killed, the hordes of undead would finally be put to rest and the living could begin putting a dent in Kazechi's plan.

~"Where do you think you're going?" A scratchy voice asked calmly, an eerie, creepy calm that forced a shiver up Deidara's back. He knew this voice better than anyone else, and knew just what kind of pain came with a voice that sounded like broken glass.

~Itachi turned first, being the last in line and the closest to the puppet master. It seemed Sasori had yet to shed his outer shell of Hiruko since the battle started, leading the Uchiha to believe that whatever job he'd been instructed to do had been left unattended.

~"I do believe it is called escaping," the eldest Uchiha son said obviously. He stared indifferently at Sasori's defense armor and debated on Deidara's abilities to get the Jinchurikis to safety while he fought the puppeteer.

~"I don't think I can allow that," Hiruko's voice ground out.

~"I don't think you have a choice, prick! Yeah!" Deidara was now annoyed and his legs were shaking. He didn't think he could hold Han up any longer, but Utakata noticed the blonde's quaking helplessness and was swift to jump to the armored man's other side, gaining a grunting appreciation from both parties.

~Sasori took a daunting step forward and the hairs on the back of Deidara's neck raised. Something wasn't right, didn't feel right. Their small group had gotten so far with limited problems, nothing worth getting in too big of a fuss over. Some things could be explained away by coincidence, but something was definitely not right at the moment.

~I think, I'll be taking back the Jinchurikis now," Sasori said arrogantly, moving to form a jutsu sign, but suddenly everything clicked in the bomb master's head. He saw a tiny flash of something nearly invisible from the corner of his eye. It was so thin, he would have missed it had he not known the puppet master like he did.

~"Get down!" Deidara dropped like a rock to the floor as a wall of tightly knit together threads of razor sharp wire came screaming passed them, ready to eviscerate their bodies into tiny pieces.

~They had all been lucky, listening quite to Deidara when they did. They worst thing to happen was Yugito of the two-tail was the last to fall and the sharp wire slashed just over her head, cutting her blonde haired pony-tail. The hair fluttered to the floor all around her and she exhaled sharply, thanking Kami for small favors.

~Itachi was nearly to his feet when Deidara reacted first, his remaining hand spitting up its white clay froth and chucking it at Hiruko before the man could bring his impossibly sharp wall of razor wire back down on them and finish them off with one sweep.

~The ensuing explosion blinded most everyone, and the reverberating shockwaves from the blast tore apart another piece of the castle. Blinding light poured in from the outside world, making a perfect getaway for the Jinchurikis.

~It took a few moments for everyone to gather their bearings, but Itachi was all ready shoving the containers out the jagged exit as Deidara and Sasori—still within Hiruko— began to battle, a flurry of arms, legs, tails, bombs, strings, and whatever else the duo had at their disposal was suddenly free game. Deidara even threw a rock at his annoying ex-teammate that was thrown with such precision, it irreparably bent Hiruko's scorpion tail, making it near impossible to inject the red-head's prized poison.

~"You!—You!... Arrogant, egotistical, no good, hack artist!" Sasori was bellowing now, kicking off Hiruko's damaged underbelly plate and moving like a shadow towards the explosion's expert with honed speed. He was done moving sluggishly inside his favorite puppet, finding the need to destroy Deidara and the man's irritating lack of artistic ability required a more up close and personal invitation.

~Kunais, shurikins, senbon needles, razor wire, clay bombs, they were flying through the air at a constant battering pace that neither fighters seemed to notice Itachi handing off his demon container charges to the impatiently waiting Yagura, whose demon huffed annoyed at becoming a living tank for his tailed siblings to take advantage of.

~"Should I cut in?" Itachi questioned at length, knowing Yagura wouldn't allow anything to penetrate his demon's tortoise shell until every last Jinchuriki was safe and sound.

~"NO! Yeah!" Deidara was grunting, the rising pain in his stump was becoming more and more evident, but he pushed passed the agony and continued his endless barrage of attacks. This was one fight he didn't want anyone to cut into. More so than about protecting or allowing the containers to escape, Deidara's pride as an artist was on this line and he wasn't about to allow this lifeless corpse a chance to one-up him. Not in this lifetime and certainly not in the next.

~"Then I'm leaving you to your own devices," Itachi sounded indifferent and composed, but the blonde was sure he could hear a touch of mocking laughter edging the Uchiha's voice. They may not have been friends, but it was nice to know that Itachi wasn't about to disturb the fight that needed to be done. There needed to be a winner of this argument both the red-head and the blonde had, and now was as good a time as any to have it.

~Turning away from the fight with the unclear knowledge of who would win, somewhere inside Itachi, he voted for the bomb's master to pull off something incredible and didn't doubt for a moment that Deidara would be able to do just that.

~He looked off into the distance, watching the blackened sea of fighting groups, the undead to the living, the raging Jinchurikis of Hachibi and Shukaku were nearby wreaking their own havoc on the continually rising dead, and Kyodaigame was traipsing back though the endless hordes with his precious cargo only a league off. Even though the odds looked bleak for now, with the captured Jinchurikis soon to be safe, and with Itachi's new goal of killing Zetsu reigning supreme in the Uchiha's mind, there was no doubt now that the tides of this war would soon change. They now had a winning chance, all that was needed was to move the chess pieces as the Kages had determined and overwhelm Kazechi with their collective force. The god would fall, Itachi wouldn't allow anything less.

~Pulling the tiny, slimy slug from his pants pocket, Itachi whispered something to it and in a puff of smoke, it was gone, leaving behind only its glistening slug trail behind. He had informed Tsunade of his plans and within in the hour, he knew that Kazechi would be backed into a wall.

~A wailing scream tore the oldest Uchiha's attention from the vast ocean of fighters and towards the castle's walls not too far off. He could barely discern the shadowed outlines of a several people fighting, their endless pools of energy could be felt even from this distance.

~His blood limit leaked into his eyes and filmed over his normal vision, bringing to life the chakra threads of those fighting. He sensed familiarity in three of bodies; one was most definitely Naruto, the Kyuubi's endless surge of power warbled all around the blonde the Uchiha had come to know personally over the past months. The second was Sakura's, even tainted with the god's chakra drowning out the pinkette's, he could tell the woman was of the present fighters. The third was—without a doubt— his brother's, and something inside the older brother felt proud that if the two male members of Team Seven had found their third member, brain washed or not, they would retrieve her without much effort. But something bothered the obsidian locked sibling, the fourth body floating just above the others was of a power he'd never fully sensed before.

~A tangible feeling of foreboding and—oddly enough—fear, entered Itachi's mind then. As if something terribly, horribly wrong was about to happen, and he didn't know why he had this gut wrenching feeling of hopeless loneliness suddenly twisting his insides.

~And then Naruto was rung through, slammed to the ground by none other than the god of winds himself and a long Bushido blade that nearly instantly snuffed the blonde Jinchuriki's life force out. There had been no warning, nothing. Just the immediate extinguishing of a chakra thread that blipped off Itachi's blood limit's radar and was gone.

~The older man's heart jumped and he took a halting step forward, ready to intervene, but Sasuke leapt to attention, jumping into the fray of lethal action without a thought as to his own safety. There was a long few moments of uncertainty, where Itachi debated the intelligence of aiding his brother, and took a couple more steps, even as the nagging desire to dart for him urged him on.

~When Kazechi knocked Sasuke down, Itachi's eyes widened and he blurred ahead, unable to squash the need to help. He couldn't lose his brother, not when the boy was the only thing keeping him grounded to the planet he was still forced to walk. But then the god moved, sliced his blade in a diagonal arc and caught Sasuke while his back was turned.

~Everything within the older Uchiha came to a screeching halt as Sasuke's own chakra thread disappeared from Itachi's field of Sharingan vision. The young Shinobi had died before he could even get off a few attacks, mercilessly cut down and left for dead.

~Itachi felt his insides quaking, his indifferent mask dripping from his façade and the tears came, hot and heavy, the sudden overwhelming agony was going to drown him. He couldn't control himself anymore, hadn't the ability to keep everything bottled up behind prison gates and Itachi snapped.

~His Mangekyo sprang to life, twitching in his sockets but still the tears came in endless waves. Chakra welled up inside him full-force unlike anything he'd ever used before and all around the Uchiha the ground began to break apart.

~A ribcage had begun to form first about its Uchiha master, a deep red color that sparked and flashed as if on fire. The ribcage swiftly moved and grew, sprouting legs and arms, and finally a skeletal head with sharpened pike teeth that gnashed and viciously begged for a meal. Susanoo began to take on his readied shape with growing muscle and sinew rapidly appearing on his entire body, wrapping around Itachi with all the guardian intentions he was known for.

~Kazechi looked up in enough time to see the fiery hand of Itachi's protector reaching out to grab him. The god struggled viciously, fighting to free himself of Susanoo's tightening grip, but to no avail. His sword's edge dug into his leg, cutting through the bone and sinew until all that was left of the wind god's left leg was a mid-thigh length stump, the severed lower half falling from the gigantic six-fingered hand and tumbling to the ground with a hallow thumping sound.

~_"Itamihi! Shisora!" _The god was screaming, unable to free any of his appendages enough to form a jutsu to escape. His starry-skinned sister turned her brainwashed attention away from her current target, missing the oncoming fist of Shukaku and was sent spiraling to the ground, crushing a mass of her own troops in the process. She struggled to flee from the oncoming clawed hand, her mind set on racing to her brother's aid, but the one-tail wasn't about to let her leave.

~Gaara smashed his demon's paw into the ground and held the manmade goddess still, leaning in to chew off her head as the immortal woman began to rain down more gigantic boulders from the sky.

~There was a devastating explosion from the castle and another figure wrenched themselves from the wreckage, shrieking loud and blasting a huge column of flame at Susanoo that sent Itachi and his protecting jutsu reeling.

~Kazechi instantly gained his freedom, falling to the ground as his severed limb had earlier. The god rolled around in suffocating agony, catching sight of Sakura's stock still body simply frozen to her spot. Her eyes stared out at the carnage all around her, but took in nothing, she was as unseeing and useless as the day he'd brought her in.

~The undead all around them suddenly froze, their haunting expressions mutely screaming in agony as their mouth hung open in silent cries. All at once, they seemed to fall, their collective bodies breaking apart and returning to the earth. Tsunade and Jiraiya had been successful, but at what costs had yet to be determined.

~It was all falling apart, everything was. Kazechi's plan, all his hard-work, all the conniving, the screaming, the bullying, everything was slipping through his fingers and there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop it.

~_"Do something, you stupid bitch!"_ Kazechi ordered hysterically, dragging himself onto his elbows and rolling away from another savage fire tendril his fire god brother haphazardly threw at Itachi's dodging form.

~Suddenly, Sakura's eyes shifted from unseeing green to captivating gold and she leveled her gaze at the bleeding god. A Cheshire cat grin broke out on her features, frightening and unforgiving. The goddess had finally gained back _complete _control. _"I am, brother."_ Her body exploded and the entire battlefield was bathed in gold light, her white, feathered wings springing from Sakura's back.

~Ganimaru felt the energies of every living and undead thing roaming the desert before her. Every thread of chakra, every ounce of power, Shinobi or not, was known to her. The goddess felt her container's body lifting, floating in the air until she could see and feel from every angle.

~She let her energy flow out, the searching, reaching hands of her power leaking from her every pore hit the combat zone like a hazy fog. It sought out the Jinchurikis first, surrounding Shukakaku, Hachibi, and Kyodaigame, ripping their demonic essence from their container bodies. Next came the others; Baheneko, Goku, Irukauma, Rukobi, and Kabutomushi, the only one remaining was the Kyuubi and Ganimaru took a sideways glance in the blonde's direction, noticing her green faye brother standing over the boy as if he'd always been there.

~_"Is it time?"_ Horachikyu asked solemnly, picking up the fallen Shinobi container respectfully and passing him off to Gaimaru's borrowed hands. She floated slowly to the earth, her raging brothers and sister suddenly calm and silent with their mother sister's energy warbling all around them.

~Sakura's consciousness reached out to the goddess, tearfully aware that Naruto's mind had slipped away. She touched the blonde Dobe's face gently with her hands, caressing the cold, battered cheek and feeling the never-ending well of her saddened emotions slowly taking over. Her gaze lifted, scanning across the ground to Sasuke's motionless corpse and her mind began to shatter.

~_"There's no point now,"_ Sakura murmured, hushed to disquieting sobs as Ganimaru tried to coo and offer solace.

~_"Hush, Sakura. Their time is not yet over."_ The goddess turned her attention towards the peacefully warbling Kyuubi, patiently remaining within his container even as the soul inside it died. _"Aren't you being a good boy,"_ she playfully smirked, feeling the demon's energy smile back.

~_"I've grown an attachment to the boy. I didn't want to leave him behind."_

~Ganimaru chuckled lowly and placed her hand on the blonde's chest, letting her chakra strings seep down towards the Kyuubi's consciousness. They wrapped around the demon and pulled him to her, his power, strength, energy, knowledge, his everything becoming one with his goddess mother.

~The Jinchurikis combined awareness all tumbled around inside their goddess' head, each a different personality made from many years of separation. They all talked in unison, trying to be heard above the others and only succeeding in sounding like a disorganized mess, but Ganimaru merely smiled and looked to her plant-based brother and touched his shoulder, _"I believe we've spent enough time here."_

~_"I agree, sister. I wish to return to our paradise with our lovers."_ Horachikyu glanced towards his broken brother of winds and silent brother of fire, there was dawning realization on both their faces, one full of shocked angst while the other smiled with new-found clarity, yanked from his gray washing hold the wind god had held over him. They were returning home, to the Peach Garden, where their loved ones were waiting. They could drop their earthly disguises and go back to where they all longed to be. Away from the pain of living as bound immortal, and from where they could all sit on their perches and watch as the human race moved on without them.

~Ganimaru tightened her grip on her green-haired sibling and felt his essence sink into her, the former shell of the body he inhabited buckled without the soul and fell to the earth, lifeless. It began to disappear, turning to dust and returning to the ground from whence it had formed, no longer needed on this plane of existence.

~The female goddess smiled at the life-giving warmth of her brother inside her, slinking around hers and the consciousness of the demonic offspring. She held out her hand to Itamihi and without needing to say a word, the vibrant, lava red-head with matching blood colored irises reached for her invitation and followed in suit with his kin.

~Somewhere off in the barren wasteland, where Shukaku had once stood, Shisora rose to her starry feet, looking hopelessly like a lost child. She stood stock-still, staring off towards the great-goddess mother, wringing her hands together timidly.

_~"Hurry up, child. I can't very well leave you behind."_ Her feral grin broke out across her face when the twinkling goddess bounded towards the pinkette happily, snatching up her hand and holding it close to her face. When her own power and consciousness had been collected, Ganimaru turned towards the last and final member that needed to be gathered.

_~"Are you coming with, or have you decided to sit there and brood? Your game's up, Kazechi. Face it, you lost against odds that had always been in your favor."_

~The male turned away angrily gripping to his bleeding limb, _"they wouldn't have had a chance if you hadn't interfered."_

~_"They wouldn't have had to go through so much heartache if you'd simply left them alone."_

~He watched guardedly as she extended her hand towards him, much like she'd done to Itamihi, except this time, she seemed gentler, more open to accepting him. For a moment, the god glared her down and slammed a fist into the ground, shaking some of the earth beneath it. He was throwing a tantrum and they both knew it.

~_"You're over a few thousand years old and you still whine and throw fits like a child. Just concede this time and we can go home."_ She took a step towards him, ready to jerk his life-force from him, but an old memory streamed across her mind. A young woman with dark, mahogany colored eyes and cherry red hair. _"You can go and see_ her_ again. I'm sure she's waiting."_

~Kazechi took on the appearance of someone who had been stupefied, but he shook his head and haltingly took the goddess' hand and he too was gone in an instant. Silence engulfed the field then, not even the wind that had been blowing before could be heard, but then a heart beat. Once… twice… three times and in a sudden, blinding burst of light, Sakura's body disappeared, leaving no trace behind that she'd ever been there.

~The darkness of the abyss around the pinkette seemed infinite and she hugged her knees tight to her chest, feeling a few saddened tears corner her eyes and creep down her cheeks. Everything had been so quiet for so long now that she wondered if this was what death felt like, endless, silent, and cold.

~_"You look very dejected,"_ a voice spoke beside her and all around Sakura the scenery changed, from the deepest darkness into the lush green field the ninette swore she'd seen before. She suddenly remembered that this place was the image in the glowing orb Ganimaru had shown her, that memory had seemed so far off now, like ages had passed since she'd lived it.

~"I feel lonely," Sakura whispered, the fiery, albeit indifferent demeanor of Sasuke was completely gone. She couldn't feel his essence or his chakra, he was really gone now. Even Naruto's normally warm and inviting aura was just beyond her reach. They had once again both taken a step forward while she hung back without the ability to follow. She wanted so badly to follow them that it made her chest ache.

~_"Without the whelps?"_ Ganimaru asked, though she didn't sound unkind.

~"I don't know what I'm going to do without Sasuke or Naruto. Even when one was gone I always had the other one keeping me together, and when I had both I felt whole again."

~Ganimaru's clawed finger reached out and took Sakura's chin, forcing the girl to look at her, _"you've done well. You far exceeded anything I thought a human girl like you could ever have endured. I do believe it's worth something."_ The goddess peered off just over her shoulder, drawing attention towards the gods and now humanized demons standing a few yards off. A few of them waved to their goddess mother and the gods simply watched.

~_"I think, it would… behoove me to allow the human who contained the spirit of a goddess within her for so long, to have a few wishes granted."_ The half woman, half creature's face drew together sharply, the smile dripping away and leaving behind a scowl, _"but don't get used to it. I don't play the _nice_ card well."_

~"What?" Sakura asked, not quite comprehending what was happening.

~_"I think, you should be allowed happiness in life. Or at least what I promised you."_

~"A life? W-w-with Sasuke?" The pinkette almost squeaked out the words, her hands flying to her heavily swollen belly. The twins within her kicked wildly, flopping around like they were in the middle of gymnastics.

~_"As much of one as can be offered from one such as him."_ She lifted her hand to Sakura's face, meaning to press two fingers to the young Kunoichi's forehead, but a frown stopped the immortal. _"What is it?"_

~"Every vision you every showed me was real, correct?"

~_"I am never wrong."_

~"And if you're giving me that vision from the orb you showed me. What about the visions of a bloody battlefield? What about my killing Sasuke?"

~_"There will always be war and strife amongst the humans. More war will most certainly break out in your lifetime."_

~"But why would I—?"

~_"Sakura,"_ the sheer power in how the woman spoke that name forced the pinkette to silence. _"It will happen. Many years from now. Do not doubt that it won't, but have heart that I will always be watching and when it does, I will make sure to intervene when it becomes necessary."_ She grinned broadly and lovingly touched the girl's cheek, like a doting mother would to a child, _"your body is my favorite, I wouldn't allow it to become… too… damaged. Now sleep."_ Her fingers pressed against Sakura's brow and an overwhelming urge to shut her eyes and sleep took her over.

~The Kunoichi's eyes felt sluggish and heavy, falling closed and allowing her finally empty and voided mind to drift amidst the wondrous tide of beautiful quiet. There was no longer the overwhelming feeling of demons or other gods crowding her thoughts, and even Ganimaru's presence had been pulled from her so completely that Sakura_ almost_ felt slightly hallow.

~"Sakura…" A voice whispered quietly, seemingly so far off.

~"Sakura," another, equally far off, but louder and more urgent voice had called.

~"Sakura."

~"Sakura."

~"Sakura."

~_Sakura._ Her name. It meant cherry blossoms and from the time she realized what it meant, she'd loved it. Loved hearing one particular person say it.

~"What?" She whispered and slowly opened her eyes. Sunlight blindingly poured in, forcing the woman to turn away, but when the burn dissipated and her eyes adjusted, she moved her gaze back towards to person hovering only inches away from her nose.

~"Sasuke," a smile crept across her lips and she flung herself into his arms, gripping tightly to the shocked Shinobi and refusing to let go until she was sure she wasn't dreaming. "You're alive?" From behind the obsidian-headed Uchiha she saw Naruto, his blonde hair swaying lightly in the breeze. He had an expression of worry, which was quickly melting into relief, she was okay, that was all that mattered.

~Sakura was slowly, gently lifted to her feet, a red Akatsuki cloak covering her shoulders and draping clear passed her feet. She was swimming in the material, but was glad someone had had enough wherewithal to cover her nakedness. She had to thank Itachi when the chance apprised itself. Surveying the scene all around her, she realized that the three of Team Seven was surrounded by several people, all looking worse for wear, but alive.

~Tenten gripped tightly to Neji, blood staining both of their clothes, yet their injuries didn't look life threatening. Sai and Ino stood looking concerned, but they too grew smiles when it was made obvious the pinkette wasn't in any immediate danger.

~"We're all alive," Sasuke stated, his arm supporting the majority of the medical nin's weight as she leaned on him for a holding brace. Her legs seemed heavy and she felt unusually exhausted, yet all that was being washed out by her overwhelming relief for everyone's safety. Everything was falling into place, people were where they should have been, alive and that was more than Sakura could have asked for.

~A long moment raced by and at length, the young woman pulled away and looked up into the jett black pools of the man she had realized some time ago she loved, even if he irritated her right into her grave. "Sasuke, take me home."

~And the slightly smirking Uchiha simply nodded, barely breathing into the concave of her ear, "to our home. To Konoha."

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**Author's Note** – Yep, that's it. There isn't anymore… Well, okay yeah, there is… BUT IT'S ONLY AN EPILOUGE! I'll have it up soon. C:


	33. Epilogue

**Author's Note** - So, here it is… The final installment. It's a bittersweet ending to a long road. I will return soon to perfect the chapter's grammar, spelling, and most of all, the irritating plot holes I seemed to have created during my long months of absence… . someone shoot me in the head for not completing this in a timely fashion.

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On a brighter note, I am so glad for those of you who were with me through this long journey and rooting for me all the way. It was helpful and appreciated! You are all so wonderful! Please do keep an eye out for my next romances between Sakura and Sasuke, I'm sure you'll love them as well!

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden

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UPDATE: As a writer, I enjoy reviews and the like, and I'm woman enough to take whatever you throw at me, but blatant flaming will be ignored, laughed at, and deleted. If you're not mature enough to put your name down in a review while you're flaming, I will delete you. PERIOD! You don't like it. Don't read and go away kiddos. Grow up and find someone else to pester, because I DO NOT CARE!

Anon reviewer: you think this one is rapable bad, that you should read Winter Cherry Blossoms, you REALLY won't like that one! LMFAO!

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**_Epilogue…_**

_"As I saw the morning star come up over the mountains,  
I realized that life is simply a collection of memories.  
But memories are like starlight –  
they live on forever."_

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~"Hurry up, Sasuke!" Sakura was yelling from the bottom step, still sore from the twin's birth less than a week ago now.

~"You can _not_ be serious. I am _not_ wearing this for that idiot," Sasuke's head poked around the corner from their shared bedroom, refusing to show Sakura any bit of himself in the drabble she'd picked out in a hurry the night before.

~From the living room, her youngest son Miharu started to cry, but the sound of someone hushing and cooing him made its way to her ears. It sounded like Obito, but she couldn't have been sure, with several Uchihas now wondering around the compound, two of which were ex-Akatsuki members, she just couldn't be sure of anything anymore. Things were more than just hectic, they were beginning to turn into a chaotic tornado.

~"You come downstairs right now, Sasuke! I don't care if you don't like the kimono, we are late and for once it isn't me!" She stamped her foot on the bottom stair, causing the entire house to shake slightly. It was good her strength was returning, some people just hoped it wasn't coming back too quickly, it might end up with some people, mainly the Uchihas, in the hospital.

~The young Shinobi narrowed his eyes angrily at the irritating woman as if daring her to make a move, but when the pinkette set her jaw and gave the annoying love of her life one of her "try me and die" expressions he sighed and rolled his eyes, coming around the corner.

~His black, male kimono was dotted with gold and silver, forming falling leaves from a brightly embroidered tree, giving off the impression of a beautiful autumn day. Sakura had thought it looked handsome on him, although the way it framed it broad shoulders, she wondered if she hadn't picked the right size.

~"Brother, you look… pretty," Itachi informed almost micheviously, watching his younger silbing throw his hands in the air and stomp back into their bedroom.

~"That's it! I'm not wearing it!"

~"Dammit, Itachi," Sakura growled, punching the older man in the arm while he grinned like some feral cat who'd caught a mouse. His own midnight blue kimono was made with silver dragons breathing bright red flames from their wise and aged mouths. If anything, she was sure if the two men just traded Kimonos rather than squabbling the whole argument would be over, but since Itachi was several inches taller his little brother, the outfit was hardly going to fit him properly. Even Obito's bright orange, red, and brown leaf kimono was too tall and Sasuke's too short, so the younger man would just have to deal with it.

~Sakura heard rustling from their bedroom and she jerked her attention back towards the stairs, menacingly spreading her chakra out like a stifling blanket in hopes of Sasuke getting the picture, "you had better not be changing or I swear to Kami, I _will_ unman you!" Behind her, Obito was chuckling while making low gurgling baby noises to Miharu as the infant ecstatically gurgled and smiled back.

~There was a crash, most likely Sasuke breaking something in his fit, Sakura just hoped it wasn't too valuable, but than a moment later the man replied, "then I'm bringing Kusanagi and if that damn Dobe says anything about this, I am going to stab him with it."

~The pinkette rolled her emerald eyes and pulled her attention away from the stairs and towards her infant son, who was now fussing mildly when Obito had grown boring. She smiled gently at the older Uchiha and took the boy without a word, snuggling him close to her breast until the quiet fit ceased and everything was righted in the world.

~"Itachi, would you hold Hikaru?" The woman had grown accustomed to the Uchiha men roaming the house and giving love here and there to her young sons, hardly worried that they were ex-missing nins. These were their flesh and blood, their nephews, their family… Sakura's sons were absolutely the future of the entire Uchiha household, they were as precious to the village and their family as the rarest jewels. They were safest with their uncles, of that Sakura had no doubt.

~"No," Sasuke muttered almost angrily from the top of the stairs, "I'll hold him."

~He came down looking like some royal samurai, Kusanagi tied and hanging in its place just behind him, black gloves, and an expression that could only be read as irritation. His hair, though getting long, was perfectly set as Sakura always remembered it being, while in the modest opening of his dress kimono was a patch of flawless, porcelain skin.

~Brushing passed the three watching eyes and stalking into the sitting room, Sasuke cautiously picked up his sleeping oldest son, awkwardly trying to hold him as Sakura had instructed his brother, cousin, and himself only days before.

~"Mind his head," Sakura warmly advised, her heart near exploding every time she watched the father of her children play daddy. He wasn't proficient in it, and sometimes he got easily annoyed by it, never having had an example to look up for it, but he always tried. He listened intently when Sakura explained things to him and struggled hard to remember everything she taught, all in all, Sasuke was well on his way to becoming a great father. Which he needed to learn quickly, if Ganimaru's orbed vision was going to be any kind of illustration towards the future, he was going to have many more children to have to dote on, teach, hold, and understand. Sakura was going to have a blast watching him try to figure it out.

~The clock on the living room mantle chimed and froze Sakura solid, she hadn't thought it was all ready so late. She growled irately and blurred to the twin's diaper bag, slinging it over her shoulder and racing for the door. "Hurry up!" She hissed to the others who had yet to move, but when her voice hit the air, they were all flung into motion.

~The sounds of the loud celebration could be heard more than four blocks over and as Sakura leapt to the final rooftop just before the ceremony, she ascertained the Hokage's balcony just overhead where she could easily land without bringing too much attention to herself and her very late group.

~Her heeled sandals clicked on the stone floor of the balcony, startling a young Hyuuga princess and her blonde Dobe boyfriend nearly out of their wits.

~"You're late!" Naruto informed the obvious. He, like everyone else below had donned on their dressiest garb, it wasn't everyday that a new Hokage was crowned in Konoha and the new leader deserved only the utmost respect. The blonde's kimono was surprising though, golden flames from an apparent red Kyuubi seemed to almost shift in the sunlight, with every move the Dobe made, the flames would glitter and curl. It was a beautiful outfit for the old container of the nine-tail.

~"I know we are, Sasuke had to get pretty." Sakura opened up her shoulder sling to reveal Miharu's sleeping form, which the purple and silver flower clad Hinata quickly cooed over, begging to hold the boy excitedly. It was rare to see the young woman not shy or embarrassed about anything, but with Sakura's children, the Hyuuga princess was as outgoing as Ino. The pinkette knew she would be a wonderful mother when the time came, she just thanked Kami the girl had gotten up enough gumption to finally ask Naruto to date her a few days after the battle of Kazechi.

~Sasuke growled from behind his woman, but left it at that when Naruto clapped his friend on the back good naturedly, "well, he looks beautiful. Good thing Sakura is never fashionably late, or you guys would never make it to anything—" Naruto stopped his waggling tongue when Sasuke began reaching for his sword.

~"Hey—hey—hey! You can't use blades at this ceremony, that's not fair," he darted behind Sakura as if the pinkette would protect him, and the medical nin merely rolled her eyes and turned towards the platform and podium, where Shizune Kato was struggling to hush everyone down. She looked frantic, almost about to jump out of her skin. She had spent the entire morning struggling to actually_ find_ their guest of honor, sending out wave after wave of ANBU to scour the village and countryside just incase the man had gotten cold feet.

~Sakura sighed knowingly, "she should just succumb to the inevitable. He's just going to be late like he always is." She sat down in between Naruto and Sasuke, while Hinata took up the blonde's right and Itachi and Obito took the seats on Sasuke's left.

~"He's with Rin," Naruto said lowly, hoping to keep Obito from hearing but the man on the far left end simply smiled and nodded.

~"She's happier with him, Mister Uzumaki. I am not upset by that fact." As everyone stared on, Obito felt his mind dredging into his memories. Most of them were tattered and broken beyond repair, much of his time in Akatsuki was a grayed out blur and he didn't remember much except for a few key things, but he remembered being on Team Minato, remembered his childhood teammates; Rin and Kakashi.

~During the battle of Kazechi, while fighting Kakashi, Obito had recalled something important… something he didn't know he knew. The young girl he remembered from his childhood wasn't so little anymore, she had grown up the last time he saw her. She had long, waist-length brown hair that she tied tightly into a bun and she always wore long dress kimonos to hide the fact that she was missing her legs from the knees down and the entirety of her right arm.

~After the war had ended and as everyone was trekking home in a stupor, Obito had revealed this information to Kakashi when Kazechi's mind-control had been completely broken. The two of them had left the amassed army to go in search of the young woman the Uchiha knew resided in a small village just south of Fire Country's border. When they arrived, they were overwhelmingly surprised…

* * *

_~"Hello, Kakashi. Obito. It's good to feel your auras again." The woman didn't move from her rocking chair and didn't even look up from the piece of cloth she was mending one-handedly._

_~Kakashi took and step forward, looking from Obito Uchiha to Rin and back again. He couldn't believe his eyes, she wasn't dead, but she had to be, every sign his entire life had led him to this one truth. Everyone he'd ever loved or called friend always turned up dead and now in only the span of a few days, Kakashi was realizing he was being given everything back. Sure, his teammates were broken and mangled in some way, but he was like them, his mind torn into shambles from his career choice, left to warp and overheat and dull in the sun._

_~The teacher of Team Seven took a halting step forward, almost wondering if this image would fade and leave him in the blackness of a nightmare, but with every step he took the clearer Rin became. As he came to stand beside the mahogany-haired woman he reached out to touch her shoulder, watching cautiously as she looked up at him with smiling eyes._

_~"Did you come to get me like Obito promised you would?"She laid her mending in her lap and cocked her head to the side slightly, a cute gesture that nearly forced a gasp through Kakashi's mask._

_~"Y-yes," he whispered. He fought hard against the urge to fall into her lap and cry, chuckling to himself over how badly Naruto would make fun of him and how much he'd resemble Obito himself from their younger years should he actually do it._

_~"Well then, I should get ready…"_

_~From that morning in the late summer on, Kakashi and Rin were inseparable. He had moved her from the tiny village where she did some minor medical procedures and mixed healing tonics for the sick, to her home, back in Konoha. Into his house. It was a drastic change, one Rin was very unsure of, but she knew even all these years later that she desperately loved the son of the White Fang and wasn't about to throw away this chance that fate had given her so unexpectedly._

_~She commented on how much the place had changed since she'd gone on that last mission, the one that ended up in her inevitable disappearance. Kakashi merely followed along without a word. He'd wanted to ask about her missing appendages, but felt it to be rude. She would tell him when she felt like it, not a moment before._

* * *

~Shizune seemed about to speak, could only get out an embarrassed squeak and went tearing off the stage like a madwoman when she caught sight of two ANBUs coming to deliver a message. People were getting anxious, children complaining, babies crying, things were getting tense.

~Suddenly, from the closed off roadway, Kakashi came gaiting up the street in his newly fitted Hokage robes, wheeling with him a loudly giggling Rin in her wheelchair. She waved ecstatically to Shizune, easing the chaotic expression the darker haired woman possessed.

~"It's about time!" Shizu growled, smacking Kakashi in the head with her speech scroll, hoping the ensuing jarring would correct his constant tardiness. "Hurry up before I tear you apart!"

~People were clapping uproariously as the remaining Hatake took to the stage's stairs and came to stand at the podium. All their earlier aggravation from his lateness was forgotten and lost in the moment. Men and women were cheering, the overwhelming waves of excitement couldn't be contained.

~"I am not a man of many words," Kakashi started out saying, to which Naruto snorted rudely and received a hard slap to the knee. "And I never thought of myself of good enough character to ever be considered for Hokage." He smiled behind his mask, eyes squinting slightly, "I'm am very appreciative so many thought otherwise.—Now, I know that the death of our previous Hokage is still fresh on our minds, and we loved her dearly…"

~Naruto leaned in close to Sakura's ear, whispering so only them two could hear it, "why didn't the goddess resurrect Baba-san or Master Jiraiya?"

~"Stop calling her that, have more respect. And I think because they were happier where they were. Lady Tsunade probably drinks and wins at gambling all day while Sage Jiraiya chases women in towels coming out of the bathhouse."

"I don't think they're doing those things."

~"Why not?" Sakura whispered in disbelief.

~"Master Jiraiya wrote about Granny once in his book. He said she was the "most intriguing, beautiful, captivating woman" he'd ever met. He wished take her to his cottage in the forest and live out his days."

~"Hmmm," Sakura thought quietly out loud, "maybe they did." She noticed Naruto unconsciously fingering the red head of the Kyuubi on his outfit and leaned in again to ask him, "are you sad you're not a Jinchuriki anymore?"

~"Not really, I had just gotten used to being one that it feels like I have to relearn how to not be a container anymore."

~Sakura patted her best friend's hand smiling, "I'll think you'll survive just fine without it."

~"… And I've named my successor all ready," Kakashi continued on, receiving a few hushed whispers from the crowd. "I feel that one day he'll become a great Hokage. Who, though has lived through great adversity will rise to the title of greatness without any fallbacks… Naruto Uzumaki." That name startled the blonde Dobe, as he almost disbelieved he'd even heard his sensei correctly. The young Shinobi rose to his feet and took the few steps to the balcony's railing and leaned over the edge.

~"You mean it!" He shouted and when Kakashi nodded Naruto leapt into the air, pumping his feet and acting like a typical moron in his excitement. "You hear that Sasuke! I'm going to be Hokage!"

~"I'm sure he means when you're not such a big idiot," Sasuke warned with an eye roll while his infant son fussed lightly from all the ruckus going on around him.

~"I'm not an idiot, Teme!"

~"You'll be one until you can beat me, and since that's never going to happen, you're always going to be an idiot."

~It took a few long moments to quiet the over exuberant ramblings of Naruto, Hinata smiling happily at his side and begging him to sit down until the ceremony was over. In the end, it took a hard, nasty glare from Sakura's unamused façade to get the once nine-tail container to calm down to reasonable levels.

~The Hokage scroll was handed over to Kakashi by none other than Shizune, people agreeing with the symbolic gesture of the fifth's niece to do the honors. And as the ceremony ended with the silver-haired, Hokage hatted man bowing to his secretary, a great rising cheer arose from the large crowd so loudly the twins awoke in a fit. They cried for a few moments, but quieted when their mother took them both, cradling them close and easing their collective discomfort at the noise.

* * *

~Parties, a festival, and a crowd of happy, contented Konoha villagers followed the newly appointed Hokage processional towards the city center where food, games, and entertainment awaited them. Along with some newly made friends that Team Seven's Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto and seen since before the war's final battle.

~"How's your wife?" Sakura asked teasingly to Mizukage Yagura, who wore a smug mask of indifference even though he was obviously drunk. The man turned and looked up at her with wild pinkette colored irises, giving her a nasty glare. He wasn't amused, that much was apparent. Since his return to Mist, the reigning elders of his caucus had_ suggested_ he find a bride to further his line and heritage. The once three-tailed water tortoise finally decided on a young woman of good birth named Mei Terumi, someone who would have been chosen for Kage had she been older at the time. She was a beautiful woman with medium-brown hair and light green, nearly sea-foamed shaded eyes. Her personality was known to be kind and caring, a woman who constantly smiled, even as she threatened the life of another that irritated her.

~"She's annoyingly happy," he stated without adding anything else and scanned the crowd carefully to see if he could find her. She was talking animatedly with Utakata, commenting on his handsome choice of clothes that seemed less worn that the others she had seen him in before.

~"Maybe because she _is_ happy, Yagura," Sakura returned. She had never met the woman before, but could only imagine the exhilaration a woman would face at being married. "Do you love her?"

~Yagura raised a drunken eyebrow at the pinkette, wondering if his last conversation with her in Mist's Goddess Temple had made any kind of impression upon her, good or bad. "She's well versed in Taijutsu and has a special Mist Kekkei Genkai that only two people in my village possess. She will have good off spring."

~Sakura clicked her tongue, but bit back the rising argument, if that's how things were done in their country, she'd leave it alone. It was hard not to say something, yet harder to not seem like she would have been meddling and in the end, Sakura simply sighed heavily and crossed her arms over her large chest.

~"I told you Sakura-san, our village is about strength, not our feelings."

~"I know. It just seems wrong."

~"To you, perhaps. But even with as little as I know about my… wife. I know her to be happy with the match."

~"Well, you better take her away from Uta before he tried to charm her away from you," Sakura giggled as the short-statured ex-demon jerked his head back towards Mei and found Utakata's arm ever-so-slightly touching hers. In an instant Yagura was green with jealousy so thick Sakura felt it and she watched in amusement as he stomped over to the Mist duo and separated them, snatching Mei up and dragging her away.

~"That was weird," Uta stated, hands hidden from view as the sleeves of his light blue kimono were longer than his arms.

~"What? You hitting on a woman older than yourself, or the woman's husband dragging her away?" Sakura murmured, almost laughing.

~"Hitting… on… Mei?" He burst out into roaring laughter and slapped his knee, his white-bone flute jingling on its tie at his waist. "No! Kami no! Mei is someone my apprentice knows."

~"You're apprentice? I thought you didn't like the whole teacher role."

~"I don't, but Hotaru is a persistent thing. She is gifted with too much persistence though and I've sworn to teach and protect her until she can't perfect a technique. Than I've warned her I won't be her sensei any longer."

~"Hotaru? You mean that blonde girl from the Tsuchigumo Village? And why would you stop teaching her? If she's so gifted, wouldn't you want her to keep learning?"

~"Yes, from Tsuchigumo," Utakata suddenly blushed as he realized he was about to answer a very personal question, the reddening expression drawing Sakura's very mischievous attention. She prodded him in the ribs and leaned in close to his ear, "tell me, Uta!" He reddened more if it was at all possible and finally cleared his throat and pulled out his flute.

~"I say there's not enough music or fun and games going on here!" He pressed the instrument to his lips and made like he was going to walk away, but Sakura held him fast.

~"I don't think so slug boy!" She tightened her grip on his arm and pulled him back before the two drew too much attention to themselves, "you like her, don't you?"

~Utakata tried to blow a tune, but it came out sharp screech and the growing bubble on the end popped, "don't say anything, Sakura. Please! I don't want her to think I'm some pervert with a teacher-student complex."

~Grinning from ear-to-ear the pinkette nodded gently, finding it refreshing that a Mist-nin honestly loved a woman without thinking about what their offspring could become. "All right," she teasingly sighed, "where is she though?"

~"I left her in her village until I return tomorrow. I just had to come for the festivities." He raised his flute again, relieved his secret was safe and blew out a load of colored bubbles. They floated on the breeze and charmed the giddy Konoha children as they scrambled around to pop and chase them.

~"Well, I would say 'I hope she doesn't perfect a technique soon.' But I like watching you squirm. I hope she keeps you waiting," Sakura noticed Sai and Naruto waving to her from across the street and she patted Utakata gently on the back. "Keep safe, Uta. You're a good friend." She stepped off the curb and made her way towards her friends, turning for only a second to shout, "And keep Hotaru happy!" A Cheshire cat grin spread across her face when the Mist-nin's flute screeched again.

* * *

~"I've received word from Shikamaru," Sai was smiling as their small group of Team Seven, plus Hinata and Ino took up the noodle stand's whole sitting area. They each ordered ramen, even a grumbling Sasuke, who was all ready tired of the day's festivities and ready to head home. He would rather have spent his time training or listening to the twins scream in his ear than listen to another moment of the Dobe's bragging about becoming Hokage anymore.

~"Be patient," Sakura mouthed and turned her attention towards Sai, "so, what's the news with Shikamaru?"

~"He's opted to stay and train the new military recruits for a stint of no less than five years. It appears as if Kakashi signed the paperwork yesterday, apparently the ceremony isn't a hindering technicality of being Hokage. He's been the acting leader since Lady Tsunade's passing."

~"We all knew that, Sai," Ino munched another noodle, "he's probably staying because of Temari, I heard he's been really sweet on her for over two years now and they're thinking of going further than just closet dating." There was a long moment of eerie silence where all eyes upon the female blonde as they wondered how she could've possibly known that kind of information, but this was Ino they were talking about, the woman knew everything there was to know in Konoha. It didn't matter that Ino's father landscaped Shikamaru's mother's lawn on a monthly basis, and her father had the gift of incessant gab, it was where the youngest Yamanaka seemed to get it.

~She looked healthier than she had at the battle Sakura suddenly noticed, color actually in her cheeks now and her hair seemed brighter as it used to be. Even though Choji was not of the Shinobi's to be resurrected, she seemed contented with his passing now and even was cracking smiles once in awhile. She had been by Sai's side for several weeks, the war of Kazechi having ended barely a month ago today, and Sakura attributed Ino's cheerfulness of late to that emotionless art-lout.

~"I didn't know!" Naruto loudly objected.

~"Well, everyone _but_ you, dickless," the female blonde corrected, using Sai's known nickname for Uzumaki. Everyone, including Sasuke, paused to stare at the woman oddly for a second time, but she continued munching away as if nothing of importance had happened.

~"Anyway," Sakura was trying to change the subject, "does anyone know what happened to that blonde Akatsuki guy? I didn't see him after the fight. What was his name—?"

~"Deidara," Itachi's voice rang out clearly and he ducked under the noodle shack's banner and took up the small bench seat beside his brother. "I see this is where you all are hiding."

~"If you're here, than whose watching the twins?" Sasuke asked horrified, dreading the answer.

~"Obito and Rin, of course." Itachi ordered as the others had and looked to Sakura to answer her question. "I received word from Deidara a few days ago that he hates living in Iwa and that I was to come rescue him immediately. I hear that his Kage is forcing him to train rather hard even though he is… _'handicapped'… _as he put it."

~Sakura giggled, seeing Sasuke about to protest his children's babysitter when the Kunoichi pinched his arm and forced the younger Uchiha to silence. "It's fine," she hissed in his ear, "just have fun."

~"This isn't _fun_, Sakura," he didn't feel the need to whisper, which lead to Naruto acting like he'd been abused.

~"I'm having a blast, Teme. Maybe you're just a dick-in-the-mud." He grinned at his _clever_ play on words, but was forced to duck when Sasuke threw his ramen at the blonde, nearly pelting Naruto in the face. "That was close, asshole! And a waste of good ramen!"

~"I won't miss the second time."

~Sakura lowered her head in humiliation and pretended she hadn't seen anything, but when Naruto and Sasuke's arguing match escalated into tossing other people's ramen, it was time to streamline this brawl onto more suitable territories. The fighting two were dragged almost kicking and screaming—in kimonos—towards the Konoha Training Fields where they were unceremoniously dumped on the ground and left while the others enjoyed the festival. As they left without Sasuke and Naruto, they heard the sounds of physical fighting, from a fireball jutsu, to the noise of a Kunai bouncing off a head protector. They would be occupied for awhile and in her infinite frustration, Sakura sighed heavily.

~"Don't worry about them," Itachi affirmed, "they'll be back to their old selves as soon as Sasuke's trial is over."

~"I'm worried about that, Itachi—and this is normal for them, I'm not thinking about their fighting.—I wonder if they'll be as lenient with Sasuke as they were with you and Obito."

~"I had to leave or more people would have been murdered, in the eyes of the new council, I left to protect Konoha, Sakura. Obito lost his memory and was kidnapped by Kazechi and Orochimaru, it isn't his fault. Sasuke's case is different. He left of his own recognizance to become stronger in an attempt defeat the enemy I had made myself out to be." Itachi could see he wasn't helping and took Sakura's arm to wrap it gentlemanly around his own, "I think he will be fine, Kunoichi. He's helped Konoha to the brink of losing his own life. In his effort to protect you, it killed him. We just thank the goddess for returning him… and _you_." His voice lingered on his final word slightly too long and Sakura caught it.

~"You know, Itachi," she began, "we can't ever tell Sasuke about what happened between you and I."

~"No. Never."

~"We take it to our graves?"

~"Without a doubt."

~Sakura giggled seriously and yawned. The day's activities had left her exhausted beyond reproach and she still had to go home, feed the twins, bathe them, and put them down for bed. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

~Sasuke slammed the front door behind him in his fury, startling Sakura almost out of her skin. She struggled to keep Miharu asleep after the loud disturbance had yanked him from dreamland and focused a fiery glare on the man until he looked sufficiently apologetic for his apparent issues with the door.

~Miharu snuggled back into his mother's chest and resumed his comforted suckling, grunting loudly as he ate.

~"You're sons are noisy eaters," Sakura mentioned as Sasuke untied the cord holding Kusanagi to his hips.

~"Hn." He was all ready pulling out of his kimono top and letting the thin, silk material float off him and go rustling to the floor. Underneath, he wore a pair of black-silk boxer briefs and paraded around in that attire until he could find his sweat pants laying somewhere off in a dirty pile of clothes in the bathroom. He returned, dressed in sweats and a black cotton shirt with the Uchiha fan symbol adorning the back, most of his outfits had his crest. For now, the Uchiha name wasn't as soiled as it had been, but he was still proud enough to wear its colors.

~Turning his interest towards the mother of his children, he finally seemed to take notice that both Miharu and Hikaru were fast asleep, the younger of his sons still needing his mother's breast in an unconscious attempt to drain more sustenance, a movement that reminded Sasuke of a feeding kitten. He leaned in close, watching in rapt interest as the boy drank. He'd watched Sakura do it a hundred times before, understood the physical concept of it all, but every time she fed them, Sasuke couldn't help but become completely enthralled. It was one of the most interesting things he'd ever seen, aside from their birth… which Sasuke wasn't ashamed to admit, something he would never, ever, ever in a million years go through again. After the twins, he was not going to have any more children. Sakura simply smiled knowingly and kept the knowledge Ganimaru had infused with her to herself for fear of scaring Sasuke even more than he all ready was.

~"Does it hurt?" He finally managed to get out.

~"No. But it feels stranger than anything I've ever felt before." She watched with Sasuke, seeing their son slowly fall further into dreamland until his suckling motions stopped and he was completely asleep.

~Sakura pulled Miharu away, rising to her feet and setting the infant into his crib beside his brother. They had troubles sleeping very long without the other, and the pinkette could see that her ebony haired sons with bright green eyes would be inseparable for years to come. Being almost like two pieces in a puzzle at opposite ends, she knew that were completely different even if they looked exactly alike, but they would balance each other out inexplicably. She hoped her other children had the same bond that her oldest sons possessed.

~Pulling up her robe, Sakura covered herself, but Sasuke's hand stopped her. His callused hands felt rough against the velvet skin of her breasts, though she didn't dare stop him. This was the first gentle touch she'd received from him since he'd kidnapped her away to Kazechi's castle, and since then he'd had this odd fear of even touching her, so much so that Sakura wondered if he would ever hold her again.

~The Kunoichi gasped lowly when Sasuke yanked her tightly against his body, burying his nose into the confines of her neck and simply breathing in her delectable scent. His hands roamed her body, moving from her shoulders, down her back, and towards her ass, cupping the supple flesh and squeezing it between his fingers.

~"I don't think I can wait," Sakura whispered into the concave of his ear, begging, pleading with him to just strip her naked and harshly take her. She didn't think she could handle anything soft and gentle right now, even if it was Sasuke.

~"Hn." Came the low reply, muffled by her pink locks and fragrant skin. He scooped her up gently and threw her atop the bed, growling like a wild animal when she went about untying her robe. He didn't want that, didn't need her to help him. He would do it himself or not at all, that was his control playing into effect, but Sakura didn't deny him that, knew he needed it to feel strong or wanted.

~Sasuke nuzzled into Sakura's bared collarbone, grabbing her hands and holding them above her head in one of his own. With his free hand he dug around in his pocket and pulled out a black satin covered object, but the Kunoichi was too enthralled with the spiraling emotions settling in her lower body to take notice.

~"I want to ask you something, Sakura," he breathed into her ear, the husky masculinity of the sound causing a rippling shiver to take her breath away.

~"Anything," she cooed, wriggling beneath him and struggling to pull her hands free to grip to his shoulders and pull him closer. She needed to feel him, wanted to touch every in of him, but Sasuke's hand was like iron.

~"Listen, please. This is… difficult." The quiet urgency in his voice awoke the more seriousness side of Sakura and she looked up at him with smoldering passion that if left to its own devices would sweep her away in their rapture.

~"I pulled this out of my family vault some time ago." He showed her the box, the realization of what it meant still not dawning on her. She hadn't the foggiest as to what it could be. "It used to be my mother's. My father gave it to her and as birthright, it should go to Itachi, but he told me he had no used for it."

~Slowly, understanding was dripping into her, catching her breath and sweeping her away with it until she wasn't shaking from ardor, but with excitement. "What, Sasuke?" She murmured.

~He flicked opened the box with his thumb, releasing her hands and turning the object towards her. It was a glittering gold band, plain, but beautiful and the amount of symbolism it contained meant something so much more than anything she'd had ever been given before.

~"Sasuke?" She asked, pushing through the rising crack in her voice. "Are you?"

~"I'm…" He paused to reign in his runaway emotions, "I'm not very articulate when trying to express my emotions to people."

~"Say it, Sasuke. Please," she begged.

~"Will you take me name?" It wasn't exactly as Sakura had pictured and she was sure someone else would have said it better, more romantic perhaps, but this was the infamous Sasuke Uchiha; someone full of Shinobi potential, a hard outer shell, and an inability to correctly convey sentiments in much any way other than anger. This was the best she would get out of him, at least for now and honestly, this was all Sakura required.

~She took the gold band without his prompting, looking it over carefully and slipping it on her left hand. When she gazed up at him, there was a thick expression of apprehensive confusion. He wasn't sure what to say or to feel. There was happiness in his face, that much she could tell and it was that emotion she clung to.

~The goddess be damned. Ganimaru could have said Sasuke's feelings for her were due to a fake oozing of charm all she wanted, but with the woman gone now and all that remained being Sakura Haruno. This was true and the feelings Sasuke had for her were as real as they were going to get. She flung her arms around the Shinobi and hugged him tight, struggling not to break down into tears and ruin the moment. But frankly, she wondered if anything could ruin this for her.

* * *

~Kakashi looked over another scroll his messenger ANBUs had brought before the ceremony, most of them were simple informational scrolls, giving him ideas of certain issues pertaining to Konoha. There was a nightly stroll report, a report about a theft in the village a day before, and even a scroll about candidates for Team Seven's new leader. He pushed them all to the side, for now he needed to draft his decision on Sasuke Uchiha's fate, taking into account all the men and women the previous Kage had sent after him in an effort to bring the young man back. Their families would want retribution and the people of Konoha would seek disciplinary action. This wasn't a matter to be taken lightly in any sense, but Kakashi held a biased opinion for the young Uchiha, something he wasn't apt to change even in his new position. A new father, a soon to be new husband—he had spoken briefly days ago to Sasuke when the old pupil wondered about the decision—and a genuine young man who had tried to help as best he knew how during the fight.

~Writing in his neat cursive, Kakashi began to form out how discipline would go; Sasuke was to be stripped of his Genin placement and forced to go through a year of mandatory ninja academy, that he was to pass with perfection. Upon academy completion, he was to try out for each subsequent ninja level and raise through the ranks from the very beginning. The young Shinobi was also to work on "D" missions for no less than two years. This forced a chuckle to escape the Hokage's lips, that would fire Sasuke up in all the wrong ways and probably piss him off, but it was necessary. And finally, Sasuke was to continue his Uchiha heritage, teaching his children about their family's history, the good and… the bad, no detail was to be left out. If the Uchihas wanted to change their future, it had to start with this generation.

~Kakashi finished and sealed it, setting it into his "out" box and looked through pages of Sakura's report from her time captured in Kazechi's castle. For all that it entailed, the woman had written a novel, and her old teacher skimmed through most of it, though highlighted in his mind the most pertinent and valuable information; mainly that Ganimaru and the gods and demons wouldn't be set roaming around the earth anymore. They were contented in their plane of existence, but that as side note, the goddess of water had divulged that war would come to Konoha again. Sakura had been very vague as to many of the details, perhaps hiding something she didn't want her sensei to yet know about, and the Hokage wouldn't press the issue. When the right time came, he would know everything, now just wasn't the right moment.

~He read through the reports from Iwa, about how Deidara was on his road to recovery from after the battle, having defeated Sasori with an exploding technique that left most of the blonde's body burned and in need of emergency healing. Onoki went rambling on to say that the young man was nearly completely changed and would be starting to become an actual help to society instead of a hindrance. Also, the once Jinchurikis of Iwa seemed to be doing well, Han had been invited back to the village as an armor forger and though he seemed to miss his demon, he was doing well for himself. While Roshi had become an academy trainer for youths with bounds of chakra control. It was good news for the most part and Kakashi pushed the scroll aside, all ready having made a stocked reply to each of the hidden villages about his own village's happenings.

~Ae had sent word that he too, along with his village and demonless Jinchurikis they were doing well, despite that loss of many soldiers during the fight on Kage Summit and the men and women who were not resurrected at the battle of Kazechi. He spoke well of Yugito Nii, even though the woman did not rejoin the ranks of those inhabiting Kumo. She opted for a more solitary life patrolling the outer areas of her home town, and would joining up with her team on rare occasions for a mission should the need arise. There was a short message about Killer B being missing again and Ae made an angry side note that he was going to murder his brother and for Kakashi not to aid the man should he come knocking.

~There was a surprise message from ex-Akatsuki members Pain and Konan, just a tiny scribbling that they had returned to Amekagure and that they were fixing the damage done by the Akatsuki team. Something told Kakashi that they would keep in touch as Ame's new leaders and he pushed the short scroll aside.

~There was nothing from Mizukage Yagura of Mist, he'd seen the man only earlier that night and knew of Utakata's interest in traveling, the recent marriage between Mei Terumi and Yagura himself, and that the only pertinent information Yagura seemed to be able to divulge was that the old Jinchuriki Fu had defected from her home and was residing on the outskirts of Mist. They were in the middle of talks about letting her join the bodyguard unit for Yagura himself, it seemed to be going swimmingly.

~Suna by far had the most interesting information, mainly focused on Gaara's older sister Temari and Team Ten's Shikamaru Nara. They apparently had been having some kind of intervillage fling for awhile now and it was just beginning to push up through the cracks. Hushed whisperings said Temari was pregnant, which Kakashi grinningly knew Shikamaru would classify as _"bothersome"_, but would ultimately do his best with only minimal complaints.

~Kakashi had instigated the intial conversation between Gaara and himself, inquiring about Kankuro's health and hoping it was better than he had been a month ago. After going head on with the manmade goddess Shisora, Kankuro realized he just wasn't a match for a god, ending up with multiple leg breaks, arm fractures, broken ribs, and a caved cheek bone. All in all, the puppeteer shouldn't have survived, but thanks to the medical nins Sakura had trained several years before, he was absolutely going to live to crack more stupid jokes for another day.

~Gaara himself lamented upon the loss of Shukaku, saying the night after the battle was the best night's sleep he'd ever had and he planned on having more of those until the day he died. He made note of his healing broken arm, saying he'd have rather had Sakura heal it herself—he didn't like his own medical nins much, they apparently didn't have the healing finesse the pinkette possessed—but he wasn't going to trouble her so soon after being rescued. Things in Suna were doing better now and people were finally beginning to settle down for every one of the villages.

~Lady Tsunade's and Master Jiraiya's funeral processional would be done in three days time, another scroll Kakashi found himself pouring over. Their names had all ready been etched on the Memorial Stone and the Hokage had all ready seen Naruto and Sakura spending time there, just simply talking to the stone. These times were difficult for the duo, they had lost special people in their lives that had more to them than many others. Kakashi just hoped that with their burial in a separate cemetery strictly for Konoha's elitist nins, that much of their anxious worries could be put to rest.

~Someone knocked just then, opening the door a crack, and poking their head in. Shizune smiled tiredly, it was late and she'd had enough fun and paperwork for the day, "Hokage Kakashi, we should call it a night. Believe me, none of the paperwork is going to go anwhere."

~Kakashi smiled from behind his mask, the black cloth still covering his face and left eye, even as he wore his Kage garb. "I should be done momentarily." He watched Shizune nod understandingly and take her leave, shuffling around his own papers until they looked like to be in some semblance of order. It wouldn't matter much anyway, his dark-headed secretary would muss them up in the morning anyway and his effort now would be all for naught.

~Sighing, Kakashi got to his feet and pulled off his hat, shoving it on the hanging hook by the door. Another day done, another day closer towards getting Naruto trained for this job, because he certainly didn't want to have to do it for very long.

~He pulled out of the robes and set them down on the desk silently and made his way for the door, Rin should have been home by now and he was aching for some company that didn't have to listen to him strictly because he was Hokage.

~The door closed behind him with a low click and both Kakashi Hatake and Shizune Kato made their ways home in the humid night air of late summer. Soon it would be fall and the leaves would begin to fall, it was best to enjoy these tepid temperatures while they lasted.

* * *

~Naruto let go of Hinata's hand as he led her towards her doorstep. She had been blushing the entire time since she'd found him dazed and confused on the training ground asphalt, his kimono burned and bruises lining his jaw. Without the Kyuubi, his healing took as long as it did for a normal human. It was trying for the blonde to have to wait to heal, but he didn't seem too perturbed that the fox demon was now gone.

~"N-N-Naruto," Hinata began, "I-I-I was w-wondering how you felt not being a J-Jinchuriki anymore." She had been dreading to ask the question, but even through Naruto's normally outgoing and cheerful demeanor, she could see something was off, even if only slightly.

~"Uhh," Naruto scratched his head and looked down at the Hyuuga princess, "I'm not sad he's gone. I just feel… I dunno… empty. Like when I got my appendix taken out, something's missing but I don't really know what it is… even though I do know what it is. Sorry, I'm not making much sense am I?"

~Hinata giggled and blushed hotly, "I-I think I see, N-Naruto." She mounted the first steps to her home and turned to look at the man she loved desperately, "I-I had a wonderful t-t-time." Her eyes fell to her black sandals and she vaguely wondered what to do or say next, this whole dating concept was entirely new to her.

~The Dobe took her hand and leaned forward, pecking her lightly on the lips, smiling like a fox and turning heel. He was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving Hinata stark red and ready to swoon.

~"I thought I heard you, Hina," the older Hyuuga's younger sister, Hanabi remarked, opening the front door. "Father says you were supposed to be home an hour a…go?" The few inches shorter sibling was startled when the long-haired princess fell into her less than expectant arms in a dead faint.

~"Oh brother," Hanabi growled out and turned her head to shout for some help.

* * *

~Sakura's body still buzzed from the ardent lovemaking session she had finally allowed herself to succumb to. She pressed her overheated body in Sasuke's side, breathing deep the masculine scent of him like it was her only tie to life. There were times when she couldn't stand him, but times when she needed him so inexplicably that it hurt to not have him there. She knew he didn't exactly feel the same way, and he'd be damned before he'd tell her he loved her, but with all of that came time, and for now Sakura had no problems waiting.

~"Hey, Teme!" Naruto screamed from the front landing, jerking both Sasuke and Sakura from their lover's stupor. They froze and groaned almost angrily, Sasuke rubbing his hand over his face in irritation while Sakura scrambled to find a robe. She didn't care if Naruto saw her fiancé naked, they were both men, but with the blonde's inability to learn tact, she would find herself in a compromising position should the Dobe decide to jump up uninvited.

~"Teme!" He shouted again, "I just had the best date ever!"

~"Make Mister Uzumaki go to sleep!" Obito whined from the bedroom two over, "I'm exhausted."

~"I agree. It's been a long day and I wasn't informed I would be dealing with morons this late at night." Itachi wasn't helping the situation.

~"Teme! Hurry up!"

~Sasuke laid stock still on the bed, naked as the day he was born, just staring at the ceiling while his hands dug into the bed. His fury was rising, that much was apparent, what wasn't was how much pain Naruto was going to be in if he didn't shut up and go away now.

~"Sasuke is a girl!" Naruto was just toying with death, literally dancing in front of it and wiggling his ass.

~"That's it! I'm killing him!" Sasuke blurred to the window in all his naked glory, leaping from the sill, and pouncing on the unsuspecting Uzumaki, who was still shocked to see a naked Shinobi come flying from the second story window.

~Sakura watched from the window, peering down at the tussling boys and smiled when a growing audience of Itachi, Obito, Juugo, and Suigetsu came to grin at the ridiculousness.

~"What's going on again?" Suigetsu asked and Juugo just shrugged.

~"Mister Uzumaki looks like he's losing."

~Itachi raised an eyebrow and the corner of his mouth upturned into a smile, "to a stark naked opponent. This will be embarrassing for a long time." He yawned and made his way back into the house, the boys could fight, he was too tired to care. Behind him, in single file followed everyone else.

~An hour later and a couple healed nosebleeds led to Sakura blushingly telling Sasuke he couldn't parade around naked in the kitchen with company here, forcing the Uchiha to growl out how the Dobe was never a guest in _his_ house and how he could stand around naked wherever he wanted to in _his _ house.

~Sakura made tea, pushing the cup towards the blonde slowly, "so, your date was good then?" She started.

~"Hinata's a great girl!—"

~"Shh, babies are sleeping."

~"She's beautiful, funny, smart, and she likes to listen to me talk."

~"Sounds like a great start."

~Sasuke came stomping back into the kitchen, dressed in the attire Sakura had helped strip him of more than two and a half hours ago. He plopped into a seat and took Naruto's tea, his teammate wasn't drinking it anyway,

~"I think she'd be someone I could really fall in love with."

~"Better late than never," Sakura mumbled with a smile.

~They talked a bit longer, all about Naruto's new crush on Hinata and how she was going to be the perfect girl for him. Just as dawn was beginning to rise over the horizon, Sasuke kicked the Dobe unceremoniously out and told him to hit the road. Sakura growled about how rude he was being, but Sasuke didn't care and they climbed the stairs to their room.

~"It's beautiful," Sakura said lowly, trying to keep from waking the slumbering twins. "I haven't actually watched a sunrise in a long time. I used to do this years ago when we were still Genin and just before ninja training with Kakashi."

~"Hn," came Sasuke's rebuttal reply.

~"I used to see the ninja cats from your house wandering the rooftops in the morning doing whatever it is they do when people aren't watching. You were always training in the morning out by the oak tree, Naruto was always sleeping lopsided, and I was always on the roof, just watching."

~Sasuke came up behind the Kunoichi and ran his fingers down her spine lovingly. He relished in her jerky movements as she giggled and tried to pull away, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her out the window, scaling the roof like she had just described. They sat on the attic's top, Sakura in Sasuke lap, while his chin rested on the top of her head. It was moments like this one that she was glad she'd gone through so much difficulties in life. Moments like watching her sons sleep, or feeling Sasuke's warmth just seemed to negate all the hardships she had felt, or would ever feel again. Even Ganimaru's warning of mortal war coming down the road couldn't little to her as the welling love within her blossomed and began to grow.

~"I love you, Sasuke…"

~The man froze, his arms that were wrapped around her tightened just slightly, and Sakura knew he wasn't quite sure how to respond. He didn't want to lie to this woman when he wasn't sure what love honestly meant yet. He was sure he'd figure it out, but right now, he hadn't the foggiest clue without it sounding cliché or over emotional.

~"It's all right, Sasuke. You don't have to say it back yet. I'll keep showing you what it is until you feel it and you can tell me back." It would take time, she knew that. But Sakura Haruno, soon-to-be Sakura Uchiha had all the time in the world…

* * *

…_Fin…_

* * *

Author's Note – I know many of you have noticed grammatical errors, erroneous spelling mishaps and the like, especially with a plot hole or two, but I shall be going back to reread every chapter and figuring out my screw ups and fixing them post haste. Thank you so much for reading, and I do hope you will stick around for more Sasu/Saku fictions to come. Lots of love!

Lady A.R.R.O.


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